Full text of "Our native trees and how to identify them; a popular study of their habits and their peculiarities"

See other formats

OUR NATIVE TREES

AND HOW TO IDENTIFY THEM

& Popular ^tttUp nf
habits anU (L Ijrtr JJccultariticB

By HARRIET L. KEELER

178 ILLUSTRATIONS FROM
PHOTOGRAPHS AND WITH 162
ILLUSTRATIONS FROM DRAWINGS

THIRD EDITION

CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
NEW YORK :: :: :: :: :: :: 1902

**.

TROW DIRECTORY
PRINTING AND BOOKBINDING COMPANY

TO THE MEMORY OF
PHYLLIS AND NICHOLAS

MY LOVING COMPANIONS THROUGH

FIELD AND WOOD
THIS VOLUME IS DEDICATED

PREFACE

THE trees described in this volume are those indigenous
to the region extending from the Atlantic Ocean to the
Rocky Mountains and from Canada to the northern boun-
daries of the southern states; together with a few well-
known and naturalized foreign trees such as the Horse-
chestnut, Lombardy Poplar, Ailanthus and Sycamore Maple.

It is hoped that this book will commend itself :

To amateur botanists who desire a more extended and ac-
curate description of trees than is given by the botanical
text-books in ordinary Use.

To such of the general public as habitually live near fields
and woods ; or whose love of rural life has led them to
summer homes m hill country or along the sea-shore ; or
whose daily walks lead them through our city parks and open
commons.

To all those who feel that their enjoyment of out-door life
would be distinctly increased were they able easily to deter-
mine the names of trees.

The author is glad to acknowledge her great indebtedness v
to the following books of reference ; Sargent's "The Silva of
North America," Michaux's " North American Sylva," Lou-
don's " Arboretum et Fruticetum Britannicum," Emerson's
" Report on the Trees and Shrubs of Massachusetts," Sach's
" Physiology of Plants," Sach's " Text-Book of Botany," Le
Maout and Decaisne's " General System of Botany," Britton
and Brown's "Illustrated Flora of the United States and
Canada," Dawson's "Geological History of Plants," Hough's
" American Woods," Gray's " Manual of Botany," sixth edi-

PREFACE

tion, Vine's " Students' Text-Book of Botany," " The Check
List of the Forest Trees of the United States," and the mag-
azine Garden and Forest.

The extracts from the works of Lowell, Longfellow,
Emerson, Whittier, Holmes, Thoreau, Burroughs, and Miss
Thomas are used with the permission of and by special ar-
rangement with the publishers Messrs. Houghton, Mifflin
& Co., those from Wilson Flagg with the permission of the
Educational Publishing Co., that from Bryant with the per-
mission of the publishers, Messrs. D. Appleton & Co.

The quotations from the works of Professor G. Frederick
Wright, Professor George Pierce, and Professor D. T. Mac-
Dougal are made by the kind consent of the authors. Es-
pecial acknowledgment is due to Professor Charles S. Sar-
gent not only because in the preparation of this volume the
Silva of North America has been the authority which has
decided every case of doubt and because of his kind per-
mission to quote from his writings, but also because of his
kindly interest and his invaluable assistance in obtaining
specimens for illustrations from the Arnold Arboretum. To
Miss Anna J. Wright, Miss Charlotte Bushnell and Mr.
Charles F. Pack especial thanks are due for valuable notes
and suggestions ; also to the Director of the Missouri Bo-
tanical Garden for specimens kindly sent upon request.

The outline pictures are the work of Miss Mary Keffer of
Cleveland, Ohio. The photographs for the illustrations
were taken partly by Mr. Alfred Redher, of the Arnold Ar-
boretum, partly by Mr. Charles H. Coit, of Glenville, Ohio,
but principally by Decker, Edmonson & Co. of Cleveland,
Ohio.

May 20, 1900.

CONTENTS

Page

Genera and Species . .,;• xi

Illustrations . . . . '. '-'",. . . xvii
Guide to the Trees . . . . . . . xxi

Descriptions of the Trees :

Dicotyledones . . . . ; ; . . /
Gymnospermce . ... . .

Form and Structure of Roots, Stems, Leaves,
Flowers, and Fruit . . . . ' . * .

The Tree Stem or Trunk ...... 514

Species and Genus .5/7

Glossary of Botanical Names . . . . 5/9

Index of Latin Names . . . .. . . 527

Index of Common Names . . . . . 530

GENERA AND SPECIES

DICOTYLEDONES

MAGNOLIACE^E .

Magnolia glauca .
Magnolia tripetala
Magnolia acuminata
Liriodendron tulipifera

ANNONACE^E

Asimina triloba

TlLIACE^E ....
Till a americana
Tilia pubescens
Tilia heterophylla .
Tilia europaa

RUTACE^E ....

Ptelea trifoliata .

SlMAROUBACEjE .

Ailanthus glandulosa

AQUIFOLIACE^E .
Ilex opaca
Ilex monticola

CELASTRACE^

Euonymus atropurpureus

RHAMNACE^E

Rhamnus caroliniana

MAGNOLIA FAMILY
Swamp Magnolia . . 3
Umbrella-tree ... 5
Cucumber-tree . ' .-•• . 9
Tulip-tree . . . .14

CUSTARD-APPLE FAMILY

Papaw . . . .20

LINDEN FAMILY

Linden . . &*"

. 24

Downy Linden .

• 30

White Bass wood jr

• 30

European Linden

• 30

RUE FAMILY

Wafer Ash

AILANTHUS FAMILY
Ailanthus .

HOLLY FAMILY
American Holly .
Mountain Holly .

STAFF-TREE FAMILY
Burning Bush

BUCKTHORN FAMILY
Indian Cherry

4-
45

GENERA AND SPECIES

HlPPOCASTANACE^E

jEsculus glabra
sEsculus octandra .
sEsculus hippocastanum.

ACER AC E^ .

Acer pennsylvanicum
Acer spicatum
Acer saccharum
Acer saccharinum .
Acer rubrum .
Acer platanoides
Acer pseudo-platanus .
Acer negundo.

HORSE-CHESTNUT FAMILY

Ohio Buckeye . . .50

Sweet Buckeye . . -54

Horse-chestnut . . -54

MAPLE FAMILY

Striped Maple
i Mountain Maple .
^ Sugar Maple
^Silver Maple
\jRed Maple .
xj Norway Maple .

Sycamore Maple .

Box Elder .

60
64
66

73
77
82
82
85

ANACARDIACE^E .
Rhus hirta
Rhus copallina
Rhus vernix .

SUMACH FAMILY
Velvet Sumach .
Dwarf Sumach .
Poison Sumach .

LEGUMINOS^:

Robinia pseudacacia
Robinta viscosa
Cercis canadensis .
Gymnocladus dioicus
Gleditsia triacanihos
Cladrastts lutea

PEA FAMILY

Locust . . . .97

Clammy Locust . . . 103

Redbud . . . .104

Kentucky Coffee-tree . .109

Honey Locust . . .112

Yellow- wood . 116

Prunus nigra
Prunus americana
Prunus Pennsylvania .
Prunus mrginiana
Prunus serotina
Pyrus coronaria .
Pyrus americana .
Pyrus aucuparia ..
Pyrus sambucifolia
Cratcegus crus-galli
Cratcegus coccinea .
Cratcsgus mollis

. ROSE FAMILY

. Canada Plum . . .119

. Wild Plum . . . .120

. Wild Red Cherry . .122

. M3hoke Cherry . . .125

.x/Black Cherry . . .128

. Crab Apple. " . . .133

Mountain Ash . . .136

. vj European Mountain Ash . 138

. Elderleaf Mountain Ash . 140

. Cockspur Thorn . . .140

. White Thorn . . .143

. Scarlet Haw . . .144
xii

GENERA AND SPECIES

ROSACES — Continued.
CratcEgus tomentosa
CratcEgus punctata.
Amelanchier canadensis.

HAMAMELIDACE/E

Hamamelis virginiana .
Liquidambar styraciflua

ARALIACE^:.

Aralia spinosa

CORNACE^E ....
Cornus florida
Cornus alternifolia.
Nyssa sylvatica

CAPRIFOLIACE/E .

Viburnum lentago .
Viburnum prunifolium .

ERICACEAE . . .
Kalmia latifolia
Rhododendron maximum
Oxydendrum arboreum .

EBENACE.E ....
Diospyros virginiana

STYRACACE^E

Mohrodendron carolinum
Mohrodendron dipterum

OLEACE^E

Fraxinus americana
Fraxinus pennsylvanica
Fraxinus lanceolata
Fraxinus quadrangulata
Fraxinus nigra
Chionanthus virginica .

BlGNONIACE^E

Catalpa Catalpa .
Catalpa speciosa .

. Black Thorn ' . ; ;r(; . 148

. Dotted Haw . .: . .150

. June-berry . . . . 153

. WITCH HAZEL FAMILY

y Witch Hazel . * . '••• . 157

. Sweet Gum . ,. .16.0

. GINSENG FAMILY

. Hercules' Club . .... .165

y DOGWOOD FAMILY

. Flowering Dogwood . .169

. Alternate-leaved Dogwood . 175

. Tupelo .... 177

. HONEYSUCKLE FAMILY

. Sweet Viburnum . . .181

. Black Haw. . . .184

. HEATH FAMILY

„ Mountain Laurel . .186

. Rhododendron . . .189

. Sourwood . . . .192

. EBONY FAMILY

. Persimmon . ..^f . .195

. STORAX FAMILY

. Silverbell-tree . . . 200

. Snowdfop-tree . . . 202

. OLIVE FAMILY

. ^ White Ash . . . .206

. Red Ash . . . .212

. Green Ash . . . .214

. Blue Ash . . . .214

. Black Ash . 218

. Fringe-tree .... 222

. BIGNONIA FAMILY

. Catalpa . . . .225

. Hardy Catalpa . ' . .228

GENERA AND SPECIES

LAURACE^E .

Sassafras sassafras

LAUREL FAMILY
Sassafras

PAGE

229

ULMACE.E .

Ulmus americana
Ulmus pubescens
Ulmus racemosa
Ulmus alata .
Ulmus campestris
Celtis occidentalis

. ELM FAMILY
. \)White Elm .
. \jSlippery Elm
. Cork Elm .
. Winged Elm
. English Elm
. Hackberry .

233
240
242
246
248
249

MORACEyE .

Morus rubra .
Morus nigra .
Morus alba .
Toxylon pomiferum

MULBERRY FAMILY

Red Mulberry . . .253

Black Mulberry . . .254

White Mulberry . . .258

Osage Orange . . .258

PLATANACE^E
Platanus occidentalis

. PLANE-TREE FAMILY

xj Sycamore . . . 263

JUGLANDACE^: .

Juglans nigra
Juglans cinerea
Hicoria .
Hicoria minima
Hicoria ovata.
Hicoria laciniosa .
Hicoria alba .
Hicoria glabra

. WALNUT FAMILY

. Black Walnut . . . 269
. \XButternut .... 274

. Hickory .... 276

. Bitternut .... 279

. Shellbark Hickory . . 282

. Big Shellbark . . .286

. Mockernut .... 286

. Pignut. j . . . 290

BETULACE^E.

Betula . ,
Betula populifolia .
Betula papyrif era .
Betula nigra .
Betula lutea 4 " .
Betula lenta .
Alnus glutinosa
Ostrya virginiana .
Carpinus caroliniana

. BIRCH FAMILY
. Birch .
. ^hite Birch.
. Paper Birch.
. Red Birch .
. \jtfellow Birch
. Sweet Birch.
, European Alder
.\J)Hop Hornbeam
. Hornbeam .

295

297
302
306
310
3ii
3H
316

319

GENERA AND SPECIES

CUPULIFER^E

Quercus .

Quercus alba .

Quercus minor

Quercus macrocarpa

Quercus prinus

Quercus acuminata.

Quercus prinoides .

Quercus platanoides

Quercus rubra

Quercus coccinea .

Quercus i>elutina .

Quercus digitata .

Quercus palustris .

Quercus ilicifolia .

Quercus marilandica

Quercus imbricaria

Quercus phellos
FAGACE^E .

Fagus atropunicea

Castanea dentata .

Castanea pumila
SALICACE^E .

Salix

Salix nigra .

Salix lucida .

Salix amygdaloides

Salix fltiviatilis

Salix bebbiana

Salix discolor.

Salix alba vitellina

Salix frag ili s

OAK FAMILY

Oak . . . .
vwhite Oak . . .

Post Oak .
L^ur Oak . . '£

Chestnut Oak . >

Yellow Oak

Dwarf Chinquapin Oak

Swamp White Oak
t/Red Oak . V; ^'- 1

Scarlet Oak . -^ "V; •;':

Black Oak .

Spanish Oak >--• >

Pin Oak . "^ •-- &

Bear Oak . . .

Black Jack .

Shingle Oak ".' ^ :;-v

Willow Oak •'•#•.. ^

BEECH FAMILY
\j Beech . . ;7

Chestnut . '' . .

Chinquapin.

WILLOW FAMILY
VWillow . - ..,;•" •

Black Willow . ,

Shining Willow . . .

Peach Willow . ^

Sandbar Willow . .,

Bebb Willow %$-• .

Glaucous Willow.

White Willow . ' ',

Crack Willow .

Weeping Willow .

Salix babylonica

Populus Poplar

Populus tremuloides . .\yAspen

Populus grandident at a . .{^/Large-toothed Aspen

Populus heterophylla . . Swamp Cottonwood

Populus balsamif era . .v/Balsam

Populus balsamif era candicans Balm of Gilead .

Populus deltoides . -^''v .|/Cottonwood. £?,;.

Populus alba . . ^ . .\/White Poplar

Populus nigra italica . . Lombardy Poplar

323
328
332
335
338
342
344
346
349
354
357
362

365
366

370
372
375

378
386
392

393
395
398
.398
400
401

403
405
405
409
410

413
418

4i9
422
424
426
428
432

GENERA AND SPECIES

GYMNOSPERM^E

PAGE

PlNACE^E ....

. PINE FAMILY

PinacecE

. Pines .

Pinus ....

. The Pine .

. 440

Pinus palustris

Long-leaved Pine

• 443

Pimis strobus

. wWhite Pine .

• 443

Pinus resinosa

. uRed Pine .

• 45°

Pinus taeda .

. Loblolly Pine

. 452

Pinus rigida .

. Pitch Pine .

. 454

Pimis virginiana .

. Jersey Pine .

• 456

Pinus echinata

. Yellow Pine

. 458

Pinus divaricata .

Gray Pine .

. 460

Pinus laricio austriaca .

. Austrian Pine

. 462

Pinus sylvestris

.>/ Scotch Pine

. 464

Picca canadensis .

. White Spruce

. 464

Picea rubens .

. Red Spruce

. 468

Picea mariana

. Black Spruce

. 470

Picea excelsa .
Tsuga canadensis .

. Norway Spruce .
. N/ Hemlock ' .

• 473
. 474

Larix laricina

. Tamarack .

. . 476

Larix europ<za

. European Larch .

. 480

Abies balsamea

. Balsam Fir .

. 480

Taxoditim distichum

. Bald Cypress

. .484

Thuja accident alis.

. Arborvitae .

. 486

Cupressus thy aides.

. \yWhite Cedar

. 489

Juniperus communis

. Common Juniper

. 492

Juniper us vtrginiana .

. Red Cedar .

. 496

TAXACE./E ....

. YEW FAMILY

Salisburia adiantifolia .

, Gingko-tree

• 499

ILLUSTRATIONS

SWAMP MAGNOLIA, Flowering Spray of, 2

UMBRELLA-TREE, Leaf of, 7

CUCUMBER-TREE, Leaf of, n ; Trunk of, 12 ; Flowering Branch of, 13 ; Fruit
of, 13

TULIP-TREE, Leaf of, 15 ; Flower of, 17 ; Unfolding Leaves of, 17 ; Fruit Cone
of, 1 8

PAPAW, Leaf of, 21 ; Flower of, 22 ; Fruit of, 23

LINDEN, Leaves of, 25 ; Fruit of, 27 ; Trunk of, 28

WHITE BASSWOOD, Fruiting Spray of, 31

WAFER ASH, Fruiting Spray of, 33

AILANTHUS, Leaves of, 37 ; Samaras of, 39 ; Sumach Leaflet and, 40

HOLLY, Fruiting Spray of, 43

MOUNTAIN HOLLY, Leaf of, 45

BURNING BUSH, Fruiting Spray of, 47

OHIO BUCKEYE, Flowering Spray of, 51 ; Fruit of, 53

SWEET BUCKEYE, Leaflets of, 55

HORSE-CHESTNUT, Spray of, 57 ; Fruit of, 59

STRIPED MAPLE, Leaf of, 61; Keys of, 62
VMOUNTAIN MAPLE, Fruiting Spray of, 63 ; Keys of, 65
^UGAR MAPLE, Leaves of, 67 ; Keys of, 69 ; Trunk of, 71
"""SILVER MAPLE, Flowers of, 74 ; Leaves of, 75 ; Key of, 76
^-RED MAPLE, Leaves of, 79; Key of, 80
UNORWAY MAPLE, Fruiting Spray of, 81

SYCAMORE MAPLE, Fruiting Spray of, 83

Box ELDER, Keys of, 86 ; Fruiting Spray of, 87
L-8TAGHORN SUMACH, Fruit and Leaf of, 89

DWARF SUMACH, Leaves of, 93

POISON SUMACH, Leaves of, 95

LOCUST, Leaves of, 99 ; Raceme of Blossoms of, 100 ; Fruit of, 101

REDBUD, Flowering Branch of, 105 ; Leaf of, 107

KENTUCKY COFFEE-TREE, Flowers of, no ; Leaves of, in

HONEY LOCUST, Leaves of, 113

YELLOW-WOOD, Leaves of, 117

CANADA PLUM, Fruiting Spray of, 121

WILD RED CHERRY, Fruiting Spray of, 123
E CHERRY, Fruiting Spray of, 127

xvii

ILLUSTRATIONS

CHERRY, Fruiting Spray of, 129 ; Trunk of, 131

C,RAB APPLE, Fruiting Spray of, 135
V/MOUNTAIN ASH, Fruiting Spray of, 137 ; Fruiting Spray of European, 139

COCKSPUR THORN, Leaves of, 141

WHITE THORN, Fruiting Branch of, 145
> SCARLET HAW, Fruiting Branch of, 147

BLACK THORN, Sprays of, 149

DOTTED HAW, Sprays of, 151

JUNE-BERRY, Leaves of, 155

HAZEL, Leaves of, 159 ; Flowers and Fruit of, 161

SWEET GUM, Section of Twig of, 162 ; Leaves of, 163 ; Fruit of, 164

HERCULES'S CLUB, Leaves of, 167 ; Drupes of, 168

DOGWOOD, Branch of Flowering, 171 ; Flowering Spray of, 173 ; Fruit of, 174 ;
Fruiting Branch of Alternate-leaved, 176

TUPELO, Fruiting Branch of, 178 ; Drupes of, 179

SWEET VIBURNUM, Sprays of, 183

BLACK HAW, Sprays of, 185

MOUNTAIN LAUREL, Fruiting Branch of, 187 ; Flower Cluster of, 188

RHODODENDRON, Flowering Spray of, 191

SOURWOOD, Leaves of, 193 ; Flowers of, 194

PERSIMMON, Leaves of, 197 ; Fruit of, 198

SILVERBELL-TREE, Fruiting Branch of, 201 ; Flowers of, 202

SNOWDROP-TREE, Flowering Branch of, 203 ; Fruit of, 204
V^WHITE ASH, Leaves of, 207 ; Samaras of, 208 ; Trunk of, 210

RED ASH, Flowers of, 212 ; Leaves of, 213 ; Samaras of, 2\4

GREEN ASH, Leaves of, 215

BLUE ASH, Flower of, 216; Samaras of, 216; Leaves of, 217

BLACK ASH, Leaves of, 219 ; Flowers of, 220; Samaras of, 220

FRINGE-TREE, Flowering Branch of, 223 ; Drupes of, 224

CATALPA, Flowering Spray of, 227
\§JASSAFRAS, Fruit of, 230 ; Leaves of, 231

WHITE ELM, 237 ; Flowering Spray of, 234 ; Leaves of, 235 ; Unfolding Leaves

, of, 238 ; Samaras of, 240
\J SLIPPERY ELM, Leaves of, 239; Samaras of, 241

CORK ELM, Leaves of, 243 ; Samaras of, 244

WINGED ELM, Leaves of, 245 ; Samaras of, 246

ENGLISH ELM, Leaves of, 247

HACKBERRY, Fruiting Spray of, 251

RED MULBERRY, Fruit of, 254 ; Leaves of, 255

WHITE MULBERRY, Fruiting Branch of, 257
SAGE ORANGE, Leaves of, 259 ; Fruit of, 261

E, Trunk of, 264 ; Fruit of, 266 ; Leaf of, 267

BLACK WALNUT, Leaves of, 271 ; Trunk of, 273 ; Fruit of, 275

l^UTTERNUT, Fruit of, 275 ; Leaves of, 277

SHELLBARK HICKORY, Staminate Aments of, 278 ; Fruiting Spray of, 285 ; Trunk
of, 287

BITTKRNUT, Leaves of, 281 ; Fruit of, 282

MOCK F.R NUT, Fruit of, 288 ; Leaves of, 289

ILLUSTRATIONS

PIGNUT, Fruiting Spray of ( Carya porclna ) , 291 ; Fruiting Spray of (Carya mi-
crocarpa], 293

RED BIRCH, Branch of, 296; Leaves of, 307 ; Strobiles of, 308

SWEET BIRCH, Aments of, 296 ; Strobiles of, 312 ; Leaves of, 313

BIRCH, Strobiles of, 302 ; Fruiting Sprays of, 303 ; Trunk of, 305
BIRCH, Scales of, 297 ; Leaves of, 309 ; Strobiles of, 310

WHITE BIRCH, Strobiles of, 298 ; Fruiting Branch of, 299 ; Trunk of, 301

ALDER, Fruiting Spray of, 315
WH\3P HORNBEAM, Branch of, 316; Fruiting Spray of, 317; Aments of, 318

HORNBEAM, Ament of, 320 ; Fruiting Spray of, 321

SCARLET OAK, Aments of, 324 ; Flowers of, 325
\yWniTE OAK, Leaf of, 327 ; Trunk of, 329; Fruiting Spray of, 331

POST OAK, Leaves of, 333 ; Acorn of, 334
1/BuR OAK, Acorn of, 336 ; Leaf of, 337

CHESTNUT OAK, Leaves of, 339 ; Acorn of, 340 ; Trunk of, 341

YELLOW OAK, Leaves of, 343 ; Acorn of, 344

CHINQUAPIN OAK, Leaves of, 345 ; Acorn of, 346

SWAMP WHITE OAK, Leaves of, 347 ; Acorn of, 348
V/RED OAK. Leaves of, 350, 351 ; Trunk of. 353 ; Acorn of, 354

SCARLET OAK, Aments of, 324 ; Flowers of, 325 ; Leaves of, 355 ; Acorn of, 357

BLACK OAK, Leaves of, 359, 361 ; Acorn of, 362

SPANISH OAK, Leaves of, 363 ; Variant Leaves of, 364 ; Acorns of, 364

PIN OAK, Acorn of, 366 ; Leaves of. 367

BEAR OAK, Acorn of, 368 ; Leaves of, 369

BLACK JACK, Leaves of, 371 ; Acorn of, 372
i SHINGLE OAK, Leaves of, 373 ; Acorn of, 374

WILLOW OAK, Acorn of, 375 ; Leaves of, 376

BEECH, Leaves of, 378 ; Fruiting Spray of, 379 ; Flowers of, 380 ; Flower Clus-
ters of, 380 ; Tree, 381 ; Trunk of, 385

CHESTNUT, Leaf of, 387 ; Burs of, 389 ; Trunk of, 391

WILLOW, Flowers of, 394

"BLACK WILLOW, Staminate Flower of, 396; Pistillate Flower of, 396; Leaves

of, 397

PEACH WILLOW, Leaves of, 398

SHINING WILLOW, Leaves of, 399

LONGLEAF WILLOW, Leaf of, 400

BEBB WILLOW, Leaves of, 402

GLAUCOUS WILLOW, Leaves of, 404

WHITE WILLOW, Leaves of, 406

CRACK WILLOW, Leaves of, 407
\ WEEPING WILLOW, Leaves of, 411
>,\ ASPEN, Flowers of, 413 ; Leaves' of, 415

v\ LARGE-TOOTHED ASPEN, Leaf of, 417 ; Fruiting Ament of, 417
X\SWAMP COTTONWOOD, Leaf of, 420; Fruiting Ament of, 420

BALSAM, Leaves of, 421, 423 ; Flowers of, 424 ; Fruiting Ament of, 424

COTTONWOOD, Leaves of, 427 ; Winter Branch of, 426 ; Trunk of, 425 ; Stam-
inate Aments of, 412 ; Pistillate Aments of, 412

WHITE POPLAR, Leaves of, 429 ; Aments of, 431, 433

ILLUSTRATIONS

LOMBARD* POPLAR, Leaves of, 435

V WHITE PINE, Leaves of, 444, 445 ; Trunk of, 447 I Cone of, 449
^ RED PINE, Leaves of, 45°

LOBLOLLY PINE, Leaves of, 452 ; Cone of, 453
PITCH PINE, Cone of, 455 ; Leaves of, 456
JERSEY PINE, Cones of, 4571 Leaves of, 4=58
YELLOW PINE, Cones of, 459; Leaves of, 458
GRAY PINE, Leaves of, 4°°; Cones of, 461
(AUSTRIAN PINE, Cone of, 463
XJ SCOTCH PINE, Cones of, 465
WHITE SPRUCE, Sprays of, 467
RED SPRUCE, Fruiting Spray of, 468
BLACK SPRUCE, Fruiting Spray of, 471
/NORWAY SPRUCE, Fruiting Spray of, 475
J HEMLOCK, Fruiting Branch of, 477
TAMARACK, Fruiting Spray of, 479
LARCH, Fruiting Branch of, 481
BALSAM FIR, Leaves of, 483
BALD CYPRESS, Leaves of, 485
ARBORVIT/E, Fruiting Spray of, 487
^WHITE CEDAR, Fruiting Spray of. 491
COMMON JUNIPER, Fruiting Branch of, 493
RED CEDAR, Fruiting Branch of, 495 I Leaves of, 49?
GINKGO, Spray of, 501

GUIDE TO THE TREES

Leaves simple — i
Leaves compound — 2

i. — Leaves alternate — 3
i. — Leaves opposite — 4
3. — Margins entire — 5
3. — Margins slightly indented — 6
3. — Margins lobed — 7
5. — Oblong-ovate or obovate, large, thick ........... The Magnolias

5. —Oblong, sub-evergreen at the south ........... Swamp Magnolia

F \ Rhododendron

5.— ivergre.,n ................. „. ............ j Mountain Laurel

5. — Obovate, 6' to 10' long ........................ ....... Papaw

5. — Oblong, thick, shining, 3' to 5' long .................... Tupelo

5.— Oblong, tree occurring sparingly at the north ....... Persimmon

5. — Heart-shaped ....................................... Redbud

5. — Leaves of three forms — oval, two-lobed, or three-lobed —

frequently all three on one spray ................. Sassafras

S—Thick, shining, willow-shaped .................. °«*

5- — Thick, shining, ovate, spines in the axils Osage Orange

5- — Broadly oval or obovate, veins prominent, leaves

usually in clusters at the ends of the branches. Alternate-leaved

Dogwood

6. — Obliquely heart-shaped The Lindens

6. — Obliquely oval The Elms

6. — Obliquely ovate The Hackberry

6. — Oval or ovate, doubly serrate \ lJte rjLrc ,es

6. — Repand with spiny teeth Holly

6. — Coarsely-toothed, twigs bearing thorns The Thorns

6. — Of quivering habit, petioles compressed The Poplars

xxi

GUIDE TO THE TREES

6. — Long, slender, finely serrate The Willow

6. — Coarsely crenately-toothed The Chestnut Oaks

6. — Obovate or oval — wavy -toothed Witch Hazel

The Plums
The Cherries
Crab-Apple

6. — Serrate

Sour wood

June-berry
The Silver-bells
The Beeches
7. — Lobes entire — 8
7. — Lobes slightly indented— 9
7. — Lobes coarsely toothed — 10

8. — Apex truncate, three-lobed .................... Tulip-tree

8. — Lobes and sinuses rounded ...... Oaks (White Oak Group)

8. — Lobes rounded, lobes 2 or 3 .................... Sassafras

8. — Lobed or coarsely toothed, under surface cov-

• ered with white down .................. White Poplar

9. — Five-lobed, finely serrate ......................... Sweet Gum

9. — Variously lobed, irregularly toothed ............ The Mulberries

10. — Irregularly toothed, lobes bristle pointed. . Oaks (Red Oak

Group}
10. — Leaf broad, lobes coarsely toothed .............. Sycamore

4. — Margins entire — n

4-Margins serrate

4. — Margins lobed .................................. The Maples

1 1. — Ovate, veins prominent .............. Flowering Dogwood

1 1 . — Heart-shaped, large ...................... The Calalpas

ii. — Oval ...................................... Fringe Tree

2. — Leaves pinnately compound — 12

2. — Leaves bi- pinnately compound — 13

2.-Leaves palmately compound ............ j ^ ^Tclstnuts

12. — Alternate — 14
12. — Opposite — 15
14. — Margin of leaflets entire — 16

14. — Margin of leaflets with two or three teeth atbase../4z£z*fM#.?

( The Sumachs

,4-Margin of leaflet. serrate. . .

[ The Hickories
16. — Leaflets oval, apex obtuse ...................... The Locusts

1 6. — Leaflets oblong apex acute ................... Poison Sumach

xxii

GUIDE TO THE TREES

1 6. — Leaflets oval or ovate Cladastris

16. — Leaflets ovate — three in number Wafer Ash

15. — Margin of leaflets entire The Ashes

1 5. — Margin of leaflets serrate The Ashes

15. — Margin of leaflets coarsely toothed Box Elder

13. — Margins of leaflets entire Kentucky Coffee-tree

13. — Irregularly bi-pinnate, margins of leaflets
entire, thorns on stems above the axils

of the leaves Honey Locust

13. — Margins of leaflets serrate, stems spiny. Hercules Club

Note. — It must be remembered that the typical leaves of a species are to
be fotmd upon mature trees, not upon young ones. The leaf-
lets of a compound leaf can be distinguished from s :mple
leaves by the absence of leaf ^buds from the base of their stems.
No guide has been prepared for the Conifers, as it is believed
the illustrations will be sufficient.

SIGNS USED IN THIS BOOK

(') Acute accent over a vowel marks the short sound.
( ' ) Grave accent over a vowel marks the long sound.
(°) The sign of degree is used for feet.
( ' ) When used with figures means inches.

xxiii

DICOTYLEDONES

Flowering Spray of Swamp Magnolia, Magnolia glauca.

Leaves 4' to C/ long, \%' to 2*4' broad. Flowers 2' to 3' across.

MAGNOLIACE.E— MAGNOLIA FAMILY

SWAMP MAGNOLIA. SMALL MAGNOLIA.
SWEET BAY

Magnolia glauca.

Magnolia was named by Linnaeus in honor of Pierre Magnol, an
eminent botanist who lived in the seventeenth century. Glauca,
glaucous, refers to the under surface of the leaf.

A small tree, nearly evergreen, with slender trunk. In the Gulf
States it reaches the height of seventy feet, with a trunk two or three
feet in diameter, but at the north it is reduced to a shrub. Roots
fleshy. Prefers swamps and wet soils. Ranges from Essex County,
Massachusetts, to Long Island, from New Jersey to Florida, west
in the Gulf region to Texas.

Bark. — Light brown, scaly ; on young trees light gray, smooth.
Branchlets green at first, downy, later reddish brown ; bitter, aro-
matic.

Wood. — Light brown tinged with red, sapwood cream -white.
Sparingly used in manufactures at the south. Sp. gr. 0.5035 ; weight
of cu. ft., 31.38 Ibs.

Winter Buds. — Terete, pointed, downy, formed of successive pairs
of stipules, each pair enveloping the leaf just above. Flower-bud
enclosed in a stipular, caducous bract.

Leaves. — Alternate, simple, feather-veined, subpersistent, four to
six inches long, one and one-half to two and one-half inches broad,
oblong or oval, rounded or pointed at base, entire, obtuse at apex ;
midrib conspicuous. They come out of the bud conduplicate, pale
green, covered with long silvery hairs ; when full grown are a soft
leathery texture, bright green, smooth and shining above, pale, glau-
cous beneath, sometimes almost white. At the north they fall late
in November, at the south the leaves remain with little change of
color until pushed off by the new leaves in the spring. Petiole short,
slender.

MAGNOLIA FAMILY

Flowers. — June. Perfect, solitary, terminal, cream-white, fra-
grant, two to three inches across ; enveloping bract thin, caducous.

Calyx.— Sepals three, obtuse, concave, shorter than the petals
but resembling them, cream-white.

Corolla.— Petals nine to twelve, in rows of three, hypogynous, im-
bricated in bud, cream-white.

Stamens. — Indefinite, imbricated in rows upon the base of the
long conical receptacle ; filaments short ; anthers adnate, two-celled,
introrse ; connective fleshy, pointed.

Pistils. — Indefinite, packed together and covering the lengthened
receptacle, cohering with each other and forming an oval mass.
Ovaries fleshy, one-celled ; style short ; stigma long, yellow, turned
back at the top ; ovules two.

Fruit. — Scarlet oval mass formed of the coalescent carpels,
smooth, two inches long, containing many seeds. Seeds drupaceous,
red, shining, aromatic. Suspended at maturity by a long thin cord
of unrolled spiral vessels. September, October.

Long they sat and talked together, . . .

Of the marvellous valley hidden in the depths of Gloucester woods,
Full of plants that love the summer, blooms of warmer latitudes,
Where the Arctic birch is braided by the tropic's flowery vines,
And the white magnolia blossoms star the twilight of the pines.

— JOHN G. WHITTIER.

A sheltered swamp near Cape Ann not far from the sea is thought to be the
most northern habitation of this plant and until lately was supposed to be the
only one in Massachusetts. It has recently been found at the distance of some
miles in another swamp in the midst of deep woods in Essex.

— GEORGE B. EMERSON.

Magnolia trees are among the finest productions of the
North American forests. They are distinctively southern
trees ; two species alone are indigenous to the northern states,
and one of these may be looked upon rather as a survival, or
a wanderer which has strayed across the border and forgotten
to return, than as a resident to the manner born.

The Swamp Magnolia, or Sweet Bay, to the surprise of botan-
ists is found growing naturally in a sheltered swamp on the
peninsula of Cape Ann. That it can live there in so exposed
a position without -protection from man, proves that it can
live elsewhere, in a climate equally severe, with such protec-
tion. As a matter of fact it is fairly hardy under cultivation
throughout the north, but its leaves are not always evergreen

SWAMP MAGNOLIA

nor will it remain in continuous bloom throughout the sum-
mer unless in a moist situation. It must have water in order
to do its best.

The flowers appear in May, solitary, at the ends of the
branches, cream-white, large as a rose and fragrant as a lily.
Under favorable conditions they will continue to appear
through the greater part of the summer, and the combination
of these creamy blossoms surrounded by the dark shining
leaves is beautiful indeed. -

By midsummer the fruit has formed, a green oval mass,
made up of many seed-vessels which have grown together.
When ripe this becomes red and is about two inches long. The
enclosed seeds turn a brilliant scarlet, and when released from
their prison walls hang down for awhile on their slender white
threads, and finally fall to the ground or are eaten by birds.
In taste they are aromatic, pungent, and slightly bitter.

This charming little tree has a variety of common names,
referring to its size or its habitat or its individual characteris-
tics. Among these names is Beaver-wood, given because the
fleshy roots were eagerly eaten by the beavers, who consid-
ered them such a dainty that they could be caught in traps
baited with them. Michaux relates that the wood was used
by the beavers in constructing their dams and houses in pref-
erence to any other.

The tree is easily propagated by layers which, however,
root slowly ; but the preferred method is to graft it upon a
root of the Cucumber-tree, M. acuminata, where it makes a
stronger growth than upon its own roots. To obtain plants
from the seeds they should be preserved in moist earth and
sown very early in the spring in a moist situation.

Magnolia tripetala, the Umbrella-tree, frequently planted on
northern lawns, is a southern species ranging from Pennsyl-
vania to the Gulf. It may be easily recognized by its great
leaves, twelve to eighteen inches long, and four to eight inches
broad. These radiate from the ends of the branches in such
a way as to suggest an open umbrella, whence its common
name. Often it sprawls, a straggling bush. The huge, ter-

MAGNOLIA FAMILY

minal, cream-white blossoms appear in May. They are from
eight to ten inches across and exhale a disagreeable odor.
The name tripetala refers to the three petaloid sepals.

The Magnolia shrubs found in northern gardens whose
great white or pink flowers appear before the leaves are of
Chinese or Japanese origin.

The science of Paleobotany is fragmentary as yet, but
enough is already known to give us a wonderful outlook into
the life history of our common plants. It is evident that im-
mediately preceding the glacial period the polar regions were
not covered with ice, but sustained a rich growth of vegeta-
tion, and plants flourished there which are now known only in
warmer countries. The genus Magnolia to-day is sub-tropi-
cal. Its species are found only in southeastern North America,
southern Mexico, and southern Asia. But the scientists tell
us that once it flourished abundantly throughout America
and Europe, and its fossil remains are found in the tertiary
rocks of Greenland and elsewhere within the arctic circle.

Professor G. Frederick Wright, in " The Ice Age in North
America," admirably presents the latest opinion in regard to
the flight of the forests. He writes as follows : " The key
applied by Professor Gray for the solution of this problem
was suggested by the investigations of Heer and others, which
had just brought out the fact that, during the Tertiary period,
just before the beginning of the Ice Age, a temperate climate,
corresponding to that of latitude 35° on the Atlantic coast,
extended far up toward the North Pole, permitting Green-
land and Spitzbergen to be covered with trees and plants
similar in most respects to those found at the present time
in Virginia and North Carolina. Here, indeed, in close prox-
imity to the North Pole, were then residing in harmony and
contentment, the ancestors of nearly all the plants and ani-
mals which are now found in the north temperate zone, and
here they would have continued to stay but for the cold
breath of the approaching Ice Age, which drove them from
their homes, and compelled them to migrate to more hospita-
ble latitudes.

UMBRELLA-TREE

Umbrella-tree, Magnolia tripetala.
Leaves 12' to iS7 long, 4' to & broad.

MAGNOLIA FAMILY

" The picture of the flight and dispersal of these forests, and
of their struggle to find and adjust themselves to other homes,
is second in interest to that of no other migration. A single

GYMNO-

ANGIO-

GEOLOGICAL
FORMATIONS

SPERMS

Conifers

Cycads

Monocoty
ledons

Dicoty-
ledons

QUATERNARY

Recent

•

Glacial Epoch

•

Pliocene

•

TERTIARY

Miocene

•

Eocene

•

MESOZOIC

Cretaceous

Jurassic

Triassic

•

PALEOZOIC

Carboniferous

Devonian

Silurian

ARCH>£AN

Chart Showing the Development of Vegetation during the Geological Ages.

tree is helpless before such a force as an advancing glacier,
since a tree alone cannot migrate. But a forest of trees can.
Trees can "take to the woods" when they can do nothing

CUCUMBER-TREE

else, and so escape unfavorable conditions. There is a natu-
ral climatic belt to which the life of a forest is adjusted. In
the present instance, as the favorable conditions near the
poles were disturbed by the cooling influences of the glacier
approaching from the north, the individual trees on that side
of the forest belt gradually perished ; but at the same time
that the favorable conditions of life were contracting on the
north, they were expanding on the south, so that along the
southern belt the trees could gradually advance into new
territory, and so the whole forest belt move southward, fol-
lowing the conditions favorable to its existence. It is there-
fore easy to conceive how, with the slow advance of the gla-
cial conditions from the north, the vegetation of Greenland
and British America was transferred far down toward the
torrid zone on both the Eastern and Western continent.
Being thus transferred, the forest would be compelled to re-
main there until the retreat of the ice began again to modify
the conditions so as to compel a corresponding retreat of
plants toward their original northern habitat. Thus it is that
these descendants of the pre-glacial plants of Greenland, ar-
rested in their northward march, have remained the character-
istic flora of the latitudes near the glacial boundary."

CUCUMBER-TREE. MOUNTAIN MAGNOLIA

Magnolia acuminata.
Acuminata refers to the pointed apex of the leaves.

Of two forms ; in the forest it rises to the height of ninety feet
with sturdy unbroken trunk for two-thirds its height ; when allowed
sufficient space to develop, it becomes a cone with branches that
sweep the ground. Prefers a moist, fertile soil, but will grow on
rocky river-banks. Roots fleshy. Ranges from western New York
to southern Illinois, south through central Kentucky and Tennessee
to Alabama, and throughout Arkansas.

Bark. — Brown, regularly furrowed and scaly. Branchlets slender,
red brown, downy, later becoming gray.

MAGNOLIA FAMILY

Wood. — Light yellow brown, sapwood almost white ; light, soft,
satiny, close-grained and durable. Sp. gr., 0.4690; weight of cu.
ft., 29.23 Ibs.

Winter Bitds. — Terete, acute, downy. Terminal bud an inch
long. Outer scales fall when spring growth begins, inner scales en-
large and become the stipules of the unfolding leaves. Flower-bud
enclosed in a stipular, caducous bract.

Leaves. — Alternate or scattered, simple, feather-veined, seven to
fourteen inches long, four to six broad, oblong, pointed or rounded
at base, entire, slightly ruffled at margin, acute ; midrib and primary
veins prominent beneath. They come out of the bud conduplicate,
green, covered with long silky hairs ; when full grown are bright
deep green, smooth above, paler and slightly downy beneath. In
autumn they turn a bright yellow. Petioles an inch to an inch and
a half long.

Flowers. — May, June. Perfect, solitary, terminal, bell-shaped,
greenish yellow, three to four inches acrpss.

Calyx. — Sepals three, greenish yellow, acute, an inch to an inch
and a half long, soon reflexed.

Corolla. — Petals six, in two rows, greenish yellow, imbricate in
bud, hypogynous, obovate, concave, acute, two to three inches long;
inner row narrower than outer.

Stamens. — Indefinite, imbricated in many rows on the base of the
receptacle ; filaments short ; anthers long, adnate, introrse, two-
celled ; connective pointed.

Pistils. — Indefinite, imbricated on the lengthened receptacles.
Ovaries fleshy, one-celled ; style short, recurved ; ovules two.

Fruit. — A red cylindrical mass composed of coalescent carpels,
smooth, two to three inches long, often curved, containing many
scarlet drupaceous seeds, which when released hang down on slender
white threads. September, October.

The struggle for life among the trees of the forest is quite
as keen, the conflict as pitiless, and death to the weakest
quite as certain, as in the higher ranks of life. The survival
of the fittest is the law of the wildwood as well as of the
creatures who live beneath its protecting cover. There is
just so much space below, and just so much light above to be
appropriated, and roots that can dig deepest and hold tight-
est, trunks that can rise the highest and then spread out their
branches and bear tlveir leaves into the air and sunlight have
the best chance to survive. There is no time to loiter and
grow fat, there is no time to indulge in the luxury of branches.
Upward is the cry, and the race is given to the strong, not to

CUCUMBER-TREE

Cucumber-tree, Magnolia acuminata.

Leaves 7' to 14' long, 4' to 6' broad.

MAGNOLIA FAMILY

the weak. All trees that live in the forest learn this lesson,
and this is the explanation of the well-known fact that in or-
der to find out what the actual typical form of a tree really
is, one must see it growing alone with ample space to develop
after the law of its nature.

No tree shows the difference between free life and forest

Trunk of the Cucumber-tree.

life more clearly than the Cucumber, for it takes on two dis-
tinctly characteristic forms dependent upon its location. An
individual which has attained its growth in the forest rises
straight as a column to the height of thirty, forty, or fifty
feet without a branch. When, however, a seedling starts in
a clearing, or a sucker grows up from a decaying stump, the

CUCUMBER-TREE

entire habit is changed ; the branches start low, become
pendent, and by the time the tree is thirty feet high, the ends

of the lower branches sweep the
ground, making the contour a
beautiful cone, and beneath
the branches a perfect tent.

Flowering Branch of Cucumber-tree, Magnolia acuminata.

Such a tree having its branches tipped with pink fruit pre-
sents in September a unique and striking appearance.

The spray of the Cucumber, like that of all large-leaved
trees, is coarse. The effect of the foliage, however, is singu-
larly fine, for the leaves are of a clear
bright green, arranged alternately
along the branch and short petioled,
so that they have little independent
motion, and the branch sways as a
whole when moved by the wind.

The flowers are not so beautiful nor
so conspicuous as those of the other
magnolias, for their greenish yellow
color causes them virtually to be lost
among the leaves.

The fruit is a cylinder-shaped bunch
borne at the end of the branch, with a
tendency as it matures to turn up. When
green this somewhat resembles a cucumber, whence the name
of the tree. In September the little cucumber turns pink,

Cucumber-tree Fruit Discharg-
ing its Seed.

MAGNOLIA FAMILY

finally the red berries within break through the skin of the
covering, hang for a time on long white threads, and at length
become food for birds. Within the red pulp is a shining black
seed. Both fruit and bark are aromatic and somewhat bitter.
The Cucumber loves the mountain-side, the narrow valley,
and the banks of streams, an atmosphere constantly moist, a
soil deep and fertile. It is a magnificent tree for lawn plant-
ing, and thrives with but little attention. The only objection
that can be urged against it is its tendency to drop its leaves
more or less throughout the summer.

TULIP-TREE. YELLOW POPLAR

Liriodendron tultyifera,

Liriodendron, from two Greek words meaning lily and tree.
Tulipifera, tulip-bearing.

One of the largest and most beautiful of our natives trees, known
to reach the height of one hundred and ninety feet, with a trunk ten
feet in diameter ; its ordinary height, seventy to one hundred feet.
Found sparingly in New England, abundant on the southern shore of
Lake Erie and westward to Illinois. It extends south to Alabama and
Georgia, and is rare west of the Mississippi River. Prefers deep,
rich, and rather moist soil ; is common, though not abundant, nor is
it solitary. Roots fleshy. Growth fairly rapid. Typical form of
head conical.

Bark. — Brown, furrowed ; branchlets smooth, lustrous, reddish at
first, later dark gray, finally brown. Aromatic and bitter.

Wood. — Light yellow to brown, sapwood creamy white ; light, soft,
brittle, close, straight-grained. Used for interior finish of houses,
for siding, for panels of carriages, for coffin boxes, pattern timber, and
wooden ware. On account of the growing scarcity of the better
qualities of white pine, tulip wood is taking its place to some extent,
particularly when very wide boards are required. Sp. gr., 0.4230;
weight of cu. ft., 26.36 Ibs.

Winter Buds. — Dark red, covered with a bloom, obtuse; scales
becoming conspicuous-stipules for the unfolding leaf, and persistent
until the leaf is fully grown. Flower-bud enclosed in a two-valved,
caducous bract.

Leaves.— Alternate, simple, feather-veined, five to six inches long,
as many broad, four-lobed, heart-shaped or truncate or slightly

TULIP-TREE

Tulip-tree, Liriodendron tulipifera.
Leaves 5' to df long.

MAGNOLIA FAMILY

wedge-shaped at base, entire, and the apex cut across at a shallow
angle, making the upper part of the leaf look square ; midrib and
primary veins prominent. They come out of the bud recurved by
the bending down of the petiole near the middle bringing the apex-
of the folded leaf to the base of the bud, light green, when full grown
are bright green, smooth and shining above, paler green beneath,
with downy veins. In autumn they turn a clear, bright yellow. Peti-
ole long, slender, angled.

Flowers. — May. Perfect, solitary, terminal, greenish yellow,
borne on stout peduncles, an inch and a half to two inches long, cup-
shaped, erect, conspicuous. The bud is enclosed in a sheath of two
triangular bracts which fall as the blossom opens.

Calyx. — Sepals three, imbricate in bud, reflexed or spreading,
somewhat veined, early deciduous.

Corolla. — Cup-shaped, petals six, two inches long, in two rows,
imbricate, hypogynous, greenish yellow, marked toward the base
with yellow. Somewhat fleshy in texture.

Stamens. — Indefinite, imbricate in many ranks on the base of the
receptacle ; filaments thread-like, short ; anthers extrorse, long, two-
celled, aclnate ; cells opening longitudinally.

Pistils. — Indefinite, imbricate on the long slender receptacle.
Ovary one-celled ; style acuminate, flattened ; stigma short, one-
sided, recurved; ovules two.

Fruit. — Narrow light brown cone, formed by many samara-like
carpels which fall, leaving the axis persistent all winter. September,
October.

.Different species of trees move their leaves very differently. On the tulip-
tree, the aspen and on all native poplars, the leaves are apparently Anglo-Saxon
or Germanic, having an intense individualism. Each one moves to suit himself
Under the same wind one is trilling up and down, another is whirling, another
slowly vibrating right and left, still others are quieting themselves to sleep.
Sometimes other trees have single frisky leaves, but usually the oaks, maples,
and beeches have community of interest. They are all active together or all
alike still. — HENRY WARD BEECHER.

The Tulip-tree has impressed itself upon popular attention
in many ways, and consequently has many common "names.
In the western states it is called a poplar largely because of
the fluttering habit of its leaves, in which it resembles trees
of that genus ; the color of its wood gives it the name White-
wood ; the Indians so habitually made their dugout canoes
of its trunk that the- early settlers of the west called it Canoe-
wood ; and the resemblance of its flowers to tulips named it
the Tulip-tree.

The Tulip-tree in the forest reaches a size that may be

TULIP-TREE

Unfolding Leaves of Tulip-tree.

properly called magnificent, for it rises to the height of one
hundred and ninety feet. The Tulip-tree, however, standing
alone attains its finest
development. The
trunk rises like a Co-
rinthian column, tall
and slender, the
branches come out
symmetrically, and the
whole contour of the
tree, though somewhat
formal, possesses a cer-
tain stately elegance.

The leaves are of
unusual shape and de-
velop in a most pe-
culiar and character-
istic manner. The leaf-buds are composed of scales as is
usual, and these scales grow with the growing shoot. In
this respect the buds do not differ from those of many other
trees, but what is peculiar is that each pair of scales devel-
ops so as to form an oval en-
velop which contains the young
leaf and protects it against
changing temperatures until it
is strong enough to sustain
them without injury. When it
has reached that stage the
bracts separate, the tiny leaf
comes out carefully folded
along the line of the midrib,
opens as it matures, and until
it becomes full grown the
bracts do duty as stipules, be-
coming an inch or more in

length before they fall. The leaf is unique in shape, its apex
is cut off at the end in a way peculiarly its own, the petioles

Flower of Tulip-tre

MAGNOLIA FAMILY

are long, angled, and so poised that the leaves flutter inde-
pendently, and their glossy surfaces so catch and toss the
light that the effect of the foliage as a whole is much brighter
than it otherwise would be.

The flowers are large, brilliant, and on detached trees nu-
merous. Their color is greenish yellow with dashes of red
and orange, and their resemblance to a
tulip very marked. They do not droop
from the spray but sit erect.

The fruit is a cone two to three inches
long, made of a great number of thin nar-
row scales attached to a common axis.
These scales are each a carpel surrounded
by a thin membranous ring. Each cone
contains sixty or seventy of these scales,
of which only a few are productive. Lou-
don says that seeds from the highest
branches of old trees are most likely to
germinate. These fruit cones remain on
the tree in varied states of dilapidation
throughout the winter.

The Tulip is never abundant in the sense that oaks and
beeches and ashes are abundant, because it delights only in
deep, loamy, and extremely fertile soils, such as the bottom-
lands of rivers and borders of swamps. Its finest develop-
ment is in the valleys of the rivers flowing into the Ohio. It
is recommended as a shade-tree, especially for the cities
where bituminous coal is burned.

The wood of the Tulip is known in the arts as the poplar
and the whitewood. Mechanics who use it have divided it
into the white and yellow poplar, judging from the color and
texture of the wood. There seem to be no botanic distinc-
tions sufficiently constant upon which to base a variety, and
the difference is b.elieved to depend upon the character of
the soil.

The tree grows readily from seeds, which should be sown
in a fine soft mould, and in a cool and shady situation. If

Fruit Cone of Tulip-
tree.

TULIP-TREE

sown in autumn they come up the succeeding spring, but if
sown in spring they often remain a year in the ground^ It
is readily propagated by cuttings and easily transplanted.

The Liriodendron is now a genus of a single species. In
the cretaceous age the genus was represented by several spe-
cies, and was widely distributed over North America and
Europe. Its remains are also found in the tertiary rocks.
One species alone survived the glacial ice, and this is found
only in eastern North America and western China — the well-
known Tulip-tree of the western states.

ANNONACE^:— CUSTARD-APPLE FAMILY

PAPAW
Asimina triloba.

Asimina is formed from Asiminier, an early colonial name used
by the French for this tree. Its meaning is in doubt. Triloba
refers to the blossom.

A small tree, often a shrub. Its northern limit is the western
part of New York, is abundant on the southern shore of Lake Erie.
Occurs in eastern and central Pennsylvania, west as far as Michi-
gan and Kansas and south to Florida and Texas. Rare east of the
Alleghany Mountains, but in the low lands bordering the Missis-
sippi River often forming dense thickets. Trunk straight, branches
slender and spreading. Roots fleshy ; loves rich bottom lands and
sometimes attains the height of thirty feet.

Bark. — Dark brown, blotched with gray spots, sometimes covered
with small excrescences, divided by shallow fissures. Inner bark
tough, fibrous. Branchlets light brown, tinged with red, marked by
shallow grooves.

Wood. — Pale, greenish yellow, sapwood lighter ; light, soft,
coarse-grained and spongy. Sp. gr., 0.3969; weight of cu. ft.,
24.74 Ibs.

Winter Buds. — Small, brown, acuminate, hairy.

Leaves. — Alternate, simple, feather-veined, obovate-lanceolate,
ten to twelve inches long, four to five broad, wedge-shaped at base,
entire, acute at apex ; midrib and primary veins prominent. They
come out of the bud conduplicate, green, covered with rusty tomen-
tum beneath, hairy above ; when full grown are smooth, dark green
above, paler beneath. - In autumn they are a rusty yellow.

Petioles short, stout. Stipules wanting.

Flowers. — April, with the leaves. Perfect, solitary, axillary, rich
red purple, two inches across, borne on stout, hairy peduncles. Ill
smelling.

PAPAW

Papaw, Asimina triloba.

Leaves i</ to 12' long, of to 5' broad.

CUSTARD-APPLE FAMILY

Calyx. — Sepals three, valvate in bud, ovate, acuminate, pale
green, downy.

Corolla. — Petals six, in two rows, imbricate in the bud. Inner
row acute, erect, nectariferous. Outer row broadly ovate, reflexed
at maturity. Petals at first are green, then brown, and finally be-
come dull purple and conspicuously veiny.

Stamens. — Indefinite, densely packed on the globular receptacle.
Filaments short ; anthers extrorse, two-celled, opening longitudi-
nally.

Pistils. — Several, on the summit of the receptacle, projecting
from the mass of stamens. Ovary one-celled ; stigma sessile ; ovules
many.

Fruit. — Baccate, oblong, cylindrical, fleshy, from three to five
inches long. Sometimes curved or irregular because of imperfect
development of seeds. Edible. Seeds flat, oblong, rounded at
ends, an inch long, half an inch broad, wrinkled. September, Oc-
tober. Cotyledons broad, five-lobed.

One of two things a forest tree must do, it must be able to
reach the top and so enjoy the air and sunlight, or it must
learn to grow in the shade. The Papaw has elected to grow
in the shade. In its chosen home, which is the rich bottom
lands of the Mississippi valley, it often forms a dense under-
growth in the forest ; sometimes it succeeds in obtaining
complete possession of a tract, and there it appears as a
thicket of small slender trees, whose great leaves are borne
so close together at the ends of the branches, and which cover
each other so symmetrically, that the effect is to give a pe-
culiar imbricated appearance to the tree.
The blossom is interesting rather than
beautiful. It appears with the leaves, and
at first is green as the leaves, but as the
days go by it increases in size, darkens in
color, and by way of greenish brown and
brownish green it arrives finally at a rich,
dark, vinous red. Part of the petals are
honey laden, erect, gathered close about
Flower of Papaw. the stamens and pistils, and the others are
open, spreading, finally reflexed. The
flower appeals to the scent, the sight, and the taste, of the
vagrant fly and the wandering bee.

PAPAW

The fruit is an unusual one for northern forests. The
early settlers called the tree Papaw because of the resem-
blance of its fruit to the real papaw of the
tropics ; it certainly suggests a banana.
It is oblong in shape, nearly cylindrical,
rounded, sometimes pointed at the ends,
more or less curved and often irregular in
outline ; the flesh is yellow and soft ; the
seeds flat and wrinkled. Ripening in Sep-
tember and October, it is frequently found
in the markets of western and southern
cities, and although credited in the books
as edible and wholesome, one must be
either very young or very hungry really
to enjoy its flavor.

The Asimina is the only genus of the great Custard-Apple
family found outside of the tropics, and the Papaw is the
most northern species of the genus.

Fruit of Papaw, 3' to 5'
long.

TILIACE.E— LINDEN FAMILY

LINDEN. BASSWOOD. LIME-TREE

Tilia americana.

Tilia is the ancient classical name retained by Linnaeus. Bass-
wood alludes to the use of the inner bark for mats and cordage.

A native of rich woods in the northern states and Canada, reaches
its greatest size in the valley of the lower Ohio, becoming one hun-
dred and thirty feet in height, but its usual height is about seventy
feet. The trunk is erect, pillar-like, the branches spreading, often
pendulous, forming a broad rounded head. Roots large, deep, and
spreading. Juices mucilaginous.

Bark. — Light brown, furrowed, surface scaly. Branchlets terete,
smooth, light gray, faintly tinged with red, finally dark brown or
brownish gray, marked with dark wart-like excrescences. Inner
bark very tough and fibrous.

Wood. — Pale brown, sometimes nearly white or faintly tinged with
red ; light, soft with fine close grain ; clear of knots but does not
split easily. It is sold generally under the name of basswood, but
is sometimes confounded with tulip-wood and then called white-
wood, and is largely used in the manufacture of wooden-ware, wagon
boxes and furniture. Sp. gr., 0.4525 ; weight of cu. ft., 28.20 Ibs.

Winter Buds. — Dark red, stout, ovate, acute, smooth.

Leaves. — Alternate, simple, feather - veined, obliquely heart-
shaped, the side nearest the branch the largest, five to six inches
long, three to four inches broad, unequally cordate at base, serrate,
acuminate at apex ; midrib and primary veins conspicuous. They
come out of the bud conduplicate, pale green, downy; when full
grown are dark green, smooth, shining above, paler beneath, with
tufts of rusty brown hairs in the axils of the primary veins. In
autumn they turn a clear pale yellow. Petioles long, slender. Stipules
caducous.

LINDEN

Linden, Tilia americana.

Leaf 5' to (/ long, 3' to 4' broad. Fruit half-grown.

LINDEN FAMILY

Flowers. — June, July. Perfect, regular, yellowish white, fragrant,
nectariferous, downy, borne in cymous clusters, pendulous, with the
flower-stalk attached for half its length to the vein of an oblong leaf-
like bract as long as itself. Flower buds densely coated with white
tomentum ; bract pointed at base.

Calyx. — Sepals five, lanceolate, valvate in bud, hypogynous,
downy within, hairy without.

Corolla. — Petals five, imbricate in bud, hypogynous, alternate with
the sepals, spatulate-oblong, creamy white.

Stamens. — Numerous, polyadelphous ; filaments thread - like,
forked, collected into five clusters, with a petaloid scale placed op-
posite each petal ; anthers fixed by the middle, two-celled, extrorse.

Pistil. — Ovary superior, five-celled ; style erect ; stigma five-
lobed ; ovules two in each cell.

Fruit — Nut-like, woody, tomentose, gray, ovoid or spherical,
clustered on a long stem, about the size of peas. October.

Oh, who upon earth could ever cut down a Linden ?

—WALTER SAVAGE LAN DOR.

The Linden is to be recommended as an ornamental tree
when a mass of foliage or a deep shade is desired ; no native
tree surpasses it in this respect. It is often planted on the
windward side of an orchard as a protection to young and
delicate trees. Its sturdy trunk stands like a pillar and the
branches divide and subdivide into numerous ramifications
on which the spray is small and thick. In summer this is
profusely clothed with large leaves and the result is a dense
head of abundant foliage.

In winter a branch of the Linden may be recognized by its
deep red buds ; and the delicate leaves which burst from
them in the spring are a vivid green. Tennyson, who saw so
many of the hidden beauties of nature, did not fail to observe
this, as :

A million emeralds break from the ruby-budded lime.

Tne characteristics of the linden family are the same
whether the individual tree grows in America, Europe, or
Asia. The wood is light, soft, tough, and durable. This
makes it valuable in the manufacture of wooden-ware, cheap
furniture, bodies of carriages ; it is also especially adapted

LINDEN

for wood-carving. The inimitable carvings of fruit, flowers,
and game by Grinling Gibbons, the famous English carver,
were made entirely of linden ; no other wood could be relied
upon to be so even of texture and so free from knots.'

The leaves of all the lindens are one-sided, always heart-
shaped, and the tiny fruit, looking like peas, always hangs at-
tached to a curious, ribbon-like,
greenish yellow bract, whose use
seems to be to launch the ripened
seed-clusters just a little beyond
the parent tree. The flowers of
the European and American lin-
dens are similar, except that the
American bears a petal-like scale
among its stamens and the Euro-
pean varieties are destitute of
these appendages.

The possible age of the Linden
in America has not yet been de-
termined. In Europe it is known
to have reached the age of centu-
ries. In the court-yard of the Im-
perial Castle at Nuremberg is a
Linden which tradition says was
planted by the Empress Cuni-
gunde, the wife of Henry II. of
Germany. This would make the
tree nearly nine hundred years
old. It looks ancient and infirm,
but sends forth thrifty leaves on
its two or three remaining branches and is of course cared
for tenderly. The famous Linden of Neustadt on the Kocher
in Wiirtemberg was computed to be one thousand years old
when it fell.

The Linden is loved of the bees. No matter how isolated
the tree the bees are sure to find the fragrant nectar-laden
blossoms. The excellence of the honey of far-famed Hybla

Fruit of the Linden, Tilt'a americana.

LINDEN FAMILY

Trunk of the Linden, Tilia americana.
28

LINDEN

was due to the lime-trees that covered its sides and crowned
its summit. We read that in obedience to Amphion's music,

The Linden broke her ranks and rent
The woodbine wreaths that bound her,

And down the middle, buzz ! she went
With all her bees around her.

Homer, Horace, Virgil, and Pliny mention the lime-tree
and celebrate its virtues. As Ovid tells the old story of
Baucis and Philemon, she was changed into a linden and he
into an oak when the time came for them both to die.

Herodotus says : " The Scythian diviners take also the leaf
of the lime-tree, which, dividing into three parts, they twine
round their fingers ; they then unbind it and exercise the
art to which they pretend."

It is interesting to recall that Linnaeus, the great botanist,
derived his name from a linden tree. His father belonged to
a race of peasants who had Christian names only, but hav-
ing by his personal efforts raised himself to the position of
pastor of the village in which he lived, he followed an old
Swedish custom, common in such cases, of adopting a sur-
name.

A very beautiful linden tree stood near his home, and be-
ing something of a botanist himself he chose Linne, the
Swedish for linden, and called himself Nils Linne or Nicholas
Linden. When his famous son Carl became professor of bot-
any at the University of Upsala, his name Linne was lat-
inized into Linnaeus, as we know it to-day. But when the king
of Spain conferred upon him a patent of nobility it was given
to him as Count von Linne or Count of the Linden tree.

Like the Magnolia the Linden belongs to an ancient and
northern race. Tilia appears in the tertiary formations of
Grinnell Land in 82° north latitude, and in Spitzbergen. Sa-
porta believed that he found there the common ancestor of
the lindens of Europe and America.

All the lindens may be propagated by cuttings and graft-
ing as well as by seed. They grow rapidly in a rich soil, but
are subject to the attacks of many insect enemies.

LINDEN FAMILY

Tilia pubescent, the Downy Linden, or Small-leaved Bass-
wood, is a southern species which makes its way as far north
as Long Island. It is a small tree, nowhere common, but
found at its best in South Carolina. The leaves are usually
two or three inches long ; shoots and leaves and fruit cov-
ered with rusty down ; the fruit bract rounded at the base,
the flowers smaller and the nutlets more spherical than those
of T. americana.

Tilia heterophylla, the White Basswood, is a mountain spe-
cies ranging along the Alleghanies from Pennsylvania to
Tennessee. At its best it reaches the height of sixty feet.
The leaves are large, very unilateral, six or seven inches long,
four or five broad, light green or smooth above, silvery downy
beneath. The fruit bract is pointed at the base, the flowers
are larger than those of T. americana, the fruit is spherical and
downy. The tree is not generally known, but Professor Sar-
gent, in " The Silva of North America," says of it : " Few North
American trees surpass it in beauty of foliage ; and the con-
trast made by the silvery whiteness of the under surface of
its ample leaves as they flutter on their slender stems, with
the dark green of the Hemlocks and Laurels on the banks of
rapid mountain streams produces one of the most beautiful
effects which can be seen in the splendid forests which clothe
the valleys of the southern Appalachian Mountains."

Tilia europaa, the European linden, is distinguished from
the American lindens by its smaller and more regularly heart-
shaped leaves. Although the second midrib is present the
leaf often becomes scarcely unilateral. The flowers are
destitute of the petal-like scale among the stamens, which is
so marked a characteristic of all American lindens, and the
leaves are a little darker than those of our native species.
Several varieties are in cultivation.

WHITE BASSWOOD

Underside of a Fruiting Spray of White Basswood, Tilia heterophylla.

Leaves (/ to 7' long, 4' to 5' broad.

RUTACEvE— RUE FAMILY

WAFER ASH. HOP-TREE

Ptelea trifolicita.

Ptelea, of Greek derivation, is the classical name of the elm
tree, which was transferred by Linnaeus to this genus, because
of the resemblance of its fruit to that of the elm. Trifoliata re-
fers to the three-parted compound leaf.

A small tree, sometimes reaching the height of twenty feet, often
a shrub of a few spreading stems. It makes part of the under-
growth of the forests of the Mississippi valley, and is found most
frequently on rocky slopes. Has thick fleshy roots, flourishes in
rich, rather moist soil. Its juices are acrid and bitter and the bark
possesses tonic properties.

Bark. — Dark reddish brown, smooth. Branchlets dark reddish
brown, shining, covered with small excrescences. Bitter and ill-
scented.

Wood. — Yellow brown ; heavy, hard, close-grained, satiny. Sp.
gr., 0.8319; weight of cu. ft., 51.84 Ibs.

Winter Buds. — Small, depressed, round, pale, covered with sil-
very hairs.

Leaves. — Alternate, compound, three - parted, dotted with oil
glands. Leaflets sessile, ovate or oblong, three to five inches long,
by two to three broad, pointed at base, entire or serrate, gradually
pointed at apex. Feather-veined, midrib and primary veins prom-
inent. They come out of the bud conduplicate, very downy, when
full grown are dark green, shining above, paler green beneath. In
autumn they turn a rusty yellow. Petioles stout, two and a half to
three inches long, base enlarged. Stipules wanting.

Flowers. — May, June. Polygamo - monoecious, greenish white.
Fertile and sterile flowers produced together in terminal, spreading,
compound cymes ; the sterile being usually fewer, and falling after
the anther cells mature. Pedicels downy.

Calyx. — Four or five-parted, downy, imbricate in the bud.

WAFER ASH

Fruiting Spray of Wafer Ash, Plelea trifoliaia.

Leaflets 3' to 5' long, 2' to 3' broad.

RUE FAMILY

Corolla. — Petals four or five, white, downy, spreading, hypogy-
nous, imbricate in the bud.

Stamens. — Five, alternate with the petals, hypogynous, the pistil-
late flowers with rudimentary anthers ; filaments awl-shaped, more
or less hairy ; anthers ovate or cordate, two-celled, cells opening
longitudinally.

Pistils. — Ovary superior, hairy, abortive in the staminate flowers,
two to three-celled ; style short ; stigma two to three-lobed ; ovules
two in each cell.

Fruit. — Samara, orbicular, surrounded by a broad, many-veined
reticulate membranous ring, two-seeded. Ripens in October and
hangs in clusters until midwinter.

The Wafer Ash is a tree in miniature ; no matter if only
six feet high, it will assume the arborescent habit and pro-
duce a broad, rounded, spreading head, as much as to say
" I can be a tree if I am small." Long ago, like the Papaw,
it acknowledged itself vanquished in the struggle for light
and elected to grow in the shade. Its northern limit is the
north shore of Lake Ontario, its southern the mountains of
Mexico, and in all that vast region it forms no inconsiderable
part of the undergrowth of the forest.

Losing on many sides in the struggle for existence it has
certainly gained on one, for it has developed one of the best
adaptations for disseminating seed found in the vegetable
world. A seed like that of the Magnolia has little chance
of getting far from home, unless it can borrow wings by
making itself attractive to birds, or legs by being sought by
animals. And if all the seeds of a tree should germinate
under the parent shade there would be little chance for any
seedling. Hence a tree has made a long step forward in
the struggle for existence when it is able to equip its seeds
with wings of their own which will bear them by the aid of
a favoring breeze away from the parent tree.

It is just this that the Wafer Ash has accomplished. Its
fruit is a two-seeded samara, that is, a closed wooden box in
which are safely stored two seeds. If that were all, al-
though the cover might be tight and the seeds secure from
harm, they could never get very far from home. At this
point the life-saving appliance comes in. Upon each of the

WAFER ASH

opposite sides of that oblong pointed seed-vessel there grows
a thin membranous wing, which enlarges until at length each
meets the other and uniting they form one continuous mem-
brane. By this means the surface has been increased at
least six fold, the weight scarcely one, and the result is a
buoyant body that when freed from the anchoring stem will
float upon the moving air.

One thing further bespeaks kind nature's care. The tree
never lets her darlings go until early winter when winds are
high, and consequently they are borne far afield. In the
light of this life-story it is not surprising that the species is
abundant in its native forests.

The Wafer Ash is monoecious, that is, both sterile and fer-
tile flowers are borne in the same flower cluster. A blossom
which has stamens but no pistils is called a staminate or
sterile flower because it can produce no seeds. A blossom
which has pistils but no stamens is called a pistillate or fer-
tile flower because it can be fertilized by pollen from other
flowers and can produce seeds. These two sorts of flowers
may grow on plants produced from distinct roots ; then the
plants are said to be dioecious, a word of Greek derivation
which means, living in two households. Or the two kinds
may occur on the same plant or in the same flower cluster ;
then the flowers are said to be monoecious, that is, living in
one household.

SIMAROUBACE^:— AILANTHUS FAMILY

AILANTHUS

Aildnthus glandulbsa.
Ailanthus means, it is said, Tree of Heaven.

Native of China, introduced into Europe about the middle of the
eighteenth century. A sturdy tree, fifty to seventy feet high,
which produces an irregular and picturesque head. Grows rapidly ;
roots run near the surface ; suckers freely ; short-lived. Tolerant
of many soils.

Bark. — Brownish gray, with shallow fissures. Branchlets stout,
clumsy, brownish green, then reddish brown, finally dark brown ;
bitter.

Wood. — Pale yellow ; hard, fine-grained, satiny. Used in cab-
inet work.

Winter Buds. — Brown, small, flattened, obtuse.

Leaves. — Alternate, pinnately compound, one and one -half to
three feet long. Leaflets twenty-one to forty-one, from three to
five inches long. Ovate-lanceolate, base truncate or heart-shaped,
unequal, entire, with one or two coarse blunt teeth at each side of
the base, acuminate. Terminal leaflet ovate, toothed, sometimes
lobed, sometimes wanting. Feather-veined, midrib and primary
veins prominent. They come out of the bud a bronze reddish
green, when full grown are dark green above, paler green beneath.
In autumn they turn a bright clear yellow, or fall without change.
Petioles, smooth, terete, swollen at base, often reddish. Stipules
wanting,

Flowers. — June, when leaves are full grown. Polygamo-dioecious,
small, yellowish green,, borne in upright panicles. Staminate flow-
ers ill scented. Pistillate much less so.

Calyx. — Five-lobed, lobes imbricate in bud.

Corolla. — Petals five, greenish, oblong, acute, hairy, hypogynous,
imbricate in bud.

AILANTHUS

Ailanthus, Ailanthm glandulosa,
Leaves \%° to 3° long. Leaflets 3' to 5' long.

AILANTHUS FAMILY

Stamens. — In pistillate flowers two or three, inserted on an hypog-
ynous disk; in staminate flowers ten. Filaments thread-like, hairy ;
anthers oblong, introrse, two-celled, opening longitudinally.

Pistil. — Ovary superior ; style erect ; stigma five-lobed.

Fruit. — One-celled, one-seeded samaras, borne in full clusters,
reddish, or yellow green, slightly twisted. Abundant, beautiful.
October.

When people learn for the first time that the Ailanthus
which came to us from China is there known as the Tree of
Heaven, they are inclined to look upon it as another instance
of the general reversal of western standards in the Flowery
Kingdom ; unless, indeed, what is meant is, that it " smells to
Heaven." For the odor of the staminate blossoms in June
is so far-reaching, overpowering, and sickening that the tree
is very generally execrated, and all its merits fail to atone
for its one demerit.

The tree has a history. Its seeds were sent to England
from China in 1751 by Jesuit missionaries who believed it
could be acclimated and the leaves used as the food of a
certain kind of silkworm. The experiment failed, but the
trees proved to be so stately, graceful, and ornamental that
they were soon valued for their own sake. They were
planted extensively in parks and pleasure grounds ; were
soon introduced into the United States and planted first
near Philadelphia, afterward in Rhode Island, and also
abundantly at Flushing, New York. At first the new impor-
tations were very popular, but this popularity soon waned
because of the disagreeable odor of the blossoms, and the
trees were very generally cut down. Since that time, how-
ever, the tree has been slowly coming back into favor. The
dealers are now able to supply their customers with pistillate
plants, since the tree is dioecious, and as the unpleasant odor
pertains almost wholly to the staminate flowers, that objec-
tion may be entirely eliminated. The pistillate tree in au-
tumn loaded with its great clusters of reddish yellow sama-
ras is both conspicuous and beautiful.

The Ailanthus really has great merits. Among these is

AILANTHUS

the one that it retains its foliage bright and fresh and green
throughout the late summer when so many trees become
ragged and unsightly. This
characteristic especially rec-
ommends it aj> a city tree.
Then, too, it grows rapidly,
as do all trees whose roots
run near the surface of the
ground, and the growing
stems of young plants will
often make from four to six
feet in a single summer. It
sends forth suckers abun-
dantly, its winged seeds are
borne by the wind to many
a crack and crevice, and its
seedlings have a fashion of
coming up close to the foun-
dations of city houses and
flourishing there. Apparent-
ly it delights in meagre and
barren soils, for it often
prospers where few other
trees will grow. No insect enemies have as yet appeared,
if there are any in China they seem not to have mi-
grated.

The branches look clumsy in winter because of the entire
absence of small spray ; this is a characteristic of all trees
with large compound leaves. It will be readily seen that
this must be so, otherwise the twig could not sustain the ac-
cumulated weight of the leaves. All the twigs look upward,
not one turns to the earth.

The beauty of the unfolding leaves is one of the sights of
spring time. The tufts of young leaves with their bronze
greens and madder browns and pale green tips glow in a
brilliant atmosphere like the wings of a golden pheasant.
Bring one into the house, put it into a proper vase, set it in

Ailanthus ; Cluster of Samaras.

AILANTHUS FAMILY

the sunlight and you will have a bouquet with a color scheme

rarely equalled.

The mature leaf is often three feet long, with many pairs of

leaflets, and one leaflet at the end. Normally, there should
be a terminal leaflet, actually, it is often
wanting ; this, too, is common in pinnately
compound leaves ; the Black Walnut and the
Butternut are often evenly, instead of oddly,
pinnate ; the terminal leaflet aborts.

The young Ailanthus and the Sumach may
easily be mistaken for each other, but a mo-
ment's careful observation is sufficient to
mark the difference between them. The
growing shoot and last year's wood of the
Sumach are velvety, while those of the Ail-
anthus are smooth. The margin of the
Ailanthus leaflet is entire save a tooth or
two at the base, the Sumach leaflet is ser-
rate all along the margin. The under side
of the Sumach leaflet is whitish, the Ailan-
thus pale green. But autumn tells the story
unmistakably, the Ailanthus leaf either turns
a lemon yellow throughout its length or drops
unchanged, the Sumach glows in scarlet and
orange ere it parts from the parent stem.
The Ailanthus is short-lived ; the trunk

soon becomes hollow, and a tree two and a half or three feet

in diameter, having every appearance of health and vigor,

will go down before a strong wind only to disclose the fact

that it was simply a shell.

An Ailanthus and a
Sumach Leaflet.

AQUIFOLIACE.E— HOLLY FAMILY

HOLLY

Ilex ophca.

Theophrastus and other Greek authors named the Holly Agria ;
that is, wild or of the fields ; and the Romans formed from this the
word, Agrifolium ; and called it also Aquifolium from acutum,
sharp, and folium, a leaf. C. Bauhin and Loureiro first named it
Ilex on account of the resemblance of its leaves to those of the
Quercus Ilex, the true Ilex of Virgil. Linnaeus adopted the name
Ilex for the genus, and preserved the name of Aquifolium for the
most anciently known species. The name Holly is probably a cor-
ruption of the word holy, as Turner in his " Herbal " calls it
Holy, and Holy Tree, probably from its being used to commem-
orate the holy time of Christmas, not only in houses but in
churches. The German name Christdorn, the Danish name Christ-
orn, and the Swedish name Christtorn, seem to justify this con-
jecture. — LOUDON.

Opaca, opaque, refers to the color of the leaves of the American
species, which is a duller green than that of the European.

An evergreen tree, from thirty to fifty feet in height, found sparing-
ly in New England and New York, where it is always small. Abun-
dant on the southern coast and in the Gulf States, reaches its
greatest size on the bottom lands of southern Arkansas and eastern
Texas. The branches are short and slender and the head pyrami-
dal. Roots thick and fleshy. Will grow in both dry and swampy
soil, but grows slowly. Juices watery, and contain a bitter principle
which possesses tonic properties.

Bark. — Light gray, roughened by excrescences. Branchlets
stout, green at first and covered with rusty down, later smooth and
brown.

HOLLY FAMILY

Wood. — Brown, sapwood paler brown ; light, tough, close-
grained, susceptible of a brilliant polish, and is used for whip-han-
dles, engraving blocks, and cabinet work. Sp. gr., 0.5818 ; weight
of cu. ft., 36.26 Ibs.

Winter Buds. — Brown, short, obtuse or acute.
Leaves. — Alternate, evergreen, simple, feather-veined, elliptical
or oblong, two to four inches long, wedge-shaped at base, wavy
toothed margin with a few spiny teeth, acute at apex ; midrib prom-
inent and depressed, primary veins conspicuous. Thick, leathery,
yellow green, shining above, often pale yellow beneath. They re-
main on the branches for three years, finally falling in the spring
when pushed off by growing buds. Petioles short, stout, grooved,
thickened at base. Stipules minute.

Flowers. — May, June. Dioecious, greenish white, small, both
sterile and fertile borne in short pedunculate cymes from the axils
of young leaves or scattered along the base of young branches.
Sterile clusters three to nine-flowered ; fertile clusters one to three-
flowered. Peduncles and pedicels hairy with minute bracts at base.
Calyx. — Small, four-lobed, imbricate in the bud, acute, margins
ciliate, persistent.

Corolla. — Petals white, four, somewhat united at base, obtuse,
spreading, hypogynous, imbricate in bud.

Stamens. — Four, inserted on the base of corolla, alternate with
its lobes ; filaments awl-shaped, exserted in the sterile, much short-
er in the fertile flower ; anthers attached at the back, oblong, in-
trorse, two-celled, cells opening longitudinally.

Pistils. — Ovary superior, four-celled, rudimentary in staminate
flowers ; style wanting ; stigma sessile, four-lobed ; ovules one or
two in each cell.

Fruit. — Drupaceous, spherical or ovoid, crowned with the rem-
nants of the stigma, one-fourth of an inch across, red, rarely yellow,
persistent all winter. Nutlets few, ribbed and veined, nearly tri-
ang-ular.

On Christmas eve the bells were rung ;
On Christmas eve the mass was sung ;
That only night in all the year,
Saw the stoled priest the chalice rear.
The damsel donned her kirtle sheen ;
The hall was dressed with holly green ;
Forth to the wood did merry-men go
To gather in the mistletoe.

Marmion. — SIR WALTER SCOTT.

The mistletoe hung in the castle hall,
The holly branch shone on the old oak wall ;
The baron's retainers were blithe and gay
A keeping a Christmas holiday.

—THOMAS H. BAYLEY.
42

HOLLV

Fruiting Spray of Holly, Ilex opaca.

Leaves 2' to

long.

HOLLY FAMILY

The custom of employing holly and other plants for decorative purposes at
Christmas, is one of considerable antiquity, and has been regarded as a survival
of the usages of the Roman Saturnalia, or of an old Teutonic practice of hang-
ing the interior of dwellings with evergreens as a refuge for sylvan spirits from
the inclemency of the weather. — / ncyc. Britannica.

In English poetry and English stories the Holly is insep-
arably connected with the merry-making and greetings which
gather around the Christinas tide. The custom is also ours,
and a few days before Christmas the shops are filled with
holly and mistletoe for the annual decoration of homes and
churches.

The severity of our climate forbids the European Holly,
with its deep green, glossy foliage and coral berries, to live
here except upon a most precarious footing. But our Amer-
ican Holly makes an excellent second in the class where the
European is first, for it very closely resembles the foreign
species. The leaves are similar in outline and toothed and
bristled very much in the same way, but they are a paler
green, and although the surface is polished and shining it
does not in brilliancy quite equal its European cousin.

The American Holly is a handsome tree and worthy of far
more attention from landscape gardeners than it gets. Pos-
sibly the objection to it is its slowness of growth. The tree
is low, the branches almost horizontal, and the gray bark in
old trees becomes the willing host of great numbers of gray
and white and bluish lichens which make the tree look ven-
erable before its time. Its pretty white flowers appear in
'clusters either in the axils of the leaves or scattered along
the young shoots. The berries are scarlet, contain four
stony seeds and remain on the tree into the winter. The
flesh of the berries is so thin and aromatic that the birds do
not seem to care for it.

The Holly is usually propagated by seeds, or young plants
are taken from the. woods. As the seeds do not germinate
until the second year, transplanting the wild young trees is
the best way of obtaining them. This should be done in
the spring before growth begins.

HOLLY

Mountain Holly, Ilex monticola.
Leaves 2' to 6' long.

Ilex monticola, the Mountain Holly, is another species that
becomes a tree, but is not very generally known. It is
found in the Catskill Mountains and
extends southward along the Alle-
ghanies as far as Alabama. The
leaves do not at all suggest the pop-
ular idea of a holly, as they are de-
ciduous, light green, ovate or ob-
long, wedge-shaped or rounded at
base, serrate, acute at apex, and ut-
terly destitute of spines or bristles.
They vary from two to six inches in
length. The white flowers appear in
June when the leaves are more than
half grown. The fruit is spherical,
nearly half an inch in diameter and
bright scarlet. It is a tree of re-
markably slow growth ; a specimen
in the American Museum of Natural History, New York, is
five inches in diameter and shows one hundred and seven
layers of annual growth, of which seventy-nine are sapwood.

The genus Ilex is widely distributed over the world. It
has no representative west of the Rocky Mountains, nor
any in Australia. But South America is rich in them, the
West Indies alone have ten species, eastern North America
has fourteen, India twenty-four, China and Japan over
thirty. Europe, strange to say, has only one, but that' one
has been developed into innumerable varieties. One' hun-
dred and seventy-five species have already been noted, and
undoubtedly there are others not yet described.

The fossil remains which are now known give confirmation
of the fact that plants are ever changing. The species of to-
day are rarely the species of a former age. The rocks tell
us that in the early tertiary period several forms of Ilex ex-
isted in the arctic regions.

Ilex spinescens, a fossil form, is believed to be the remote com-
mon ancestor of the American and European Christmas Hollies.

CELASTRACE.E— STAFF-TREE FAMILY

BURNING BUSH. WAAHOO. SPINDLE-TREE
Eudnymus atropurpureus. Evdnymus atropurpureus.

JZuonynnis, derived from two Greek words, signifies good repute.
Atropurpureus, dark purple, refers to the flower.

Widely distributed. Usually a shrub six to ten feet high, becom-
ing a tree only in southern Arkansas and Indian Territory. Loves
the borders of woods ; prefers moist soil. Root fibrous.

Bark. — Ashen gray, furrowed, scaly. Branchlets slender, dark,
purplish brown ; later become brownish gray. Bitter, drastic.

Wood. — White, tinged with orange ; heavy, hard, close-grained.
Sp. gr., 0.6592 ; weight of cu. ft., 41.08 Ibs.

Winter Buds. — Purple with glaucous bloom, small, acute.

Leaves. — Opposite, entire, feather-veined, elliptical or ovate, two
to four inches long, one to two broad, pointed at base, finely serrate,
acute; midvein and primary veins conspicuous. In autumn they
turn pale yellow. Petioles short, stout. Stipules minute, caducous.

Flowers. — May, June. Perfect, dark purple, half an inch across,
borne in dichotomous, axillary, few-flowered cymes. Peduncles
slender.

Calyx. — Four-lobed, lobes spreading, imbricate in bud. Disk
thick, fleshy, filling the tube of the calyx, four-lobed, adherent to
the ovary.

Corolla. — Petals four, inserted on calyx under margin of disk,
dark purple, obovate, imbricate in bud ; margins often erose.

Stamens. — Four, alternate with the petals, inserted on the disk;
filaments very short-; anthers in pairs, two-celled ; cells opening
longitudinally.

Pistil. — Ovary superior, surrounded by and adherent to the disk,
four-celled; style short ; stigma four-lobed; ovules one or two in
each cell.

BURNING BUSH

Fruiting Spray of Burning Bush, Euonymom atropurpureus.

Leaves 2' to 4' long, i' to 2' broad.

STAFF-TREE FAMILY

Frtiit. — Fleshy capsules, borne on long drooping peduncles deeply
four-lobed, angled, smooth, purple, loculicidally three to five-valved,
opening to discharge the seeds which are inclosed in a scarlet aril.
Ripen in October and hang upon the branch until midwinter. Co-
tyledons broad and coriaceous.

Burning Bush is a satisfactory name for this shrub, which
retains its flame-colored fruit long after the leaves have fal-
len and until the winter storms beat it to the ground. Each
separate seed-vessel develops a bright purple cover and open-
ing discloses a seed clothed in scarlet. When these are
borne in considerable numbers the bush is a conspicuous ob-
ject upon the lawn or in the forest.

The Indians called the plant Waahoo, and used the wood in
the manufacture of arrows. Spindle-tree is a name brought
over seas and looks backward to a time when spinning and
weaving were done at home. The wood of the European
species of Euonymns being tough, close-grained and also
reasonably easy to work, became the favorite wood for the
making of spindles — whence the name.

Euonymus is the old Greek name and signifies, of good
repute. Now, as a matter of fact, this particular individual
is a plant of bad repute, for the leaves, bark, and fruit are
acrid and poisonous. One can comprehend its name only
upon the theory of opposites, the principle upon which the
Greeks acted when they named the Furies, the Eumenides,
the well-wishers.

The Burning Bush is not native to New England ; it is a
shrub in the middle and western states, and does not attain
the dignity of treehood until it appears in the bottom lands
of Arkansas and adjoining regions. It is interesting to note
that those trees which are distinctively native to our mid-
continental valley, reach their greatest development in the
southwest. On the banks of the Arkansas the Tulip-tree
reaches its one hundred and ninety feet, and there our little
Burning Bush, a shrub in northern fields and lawns, becomes
a tree twenty-five feet high with spreading branches.

RHAMNACE^E— BUCKTHORN FAMILY

INDIAN CHERRY

Rhdmnus carolinihna.

Found along the borders of streams in rich bottom lands. Its
northern limit is Long Island, New York, where it is a shrub ; it be-
comes a tree only in southern Arkansas and adjoining regions.

Bark. — Ashen gray, slightly furrowed, often marked with dark
blotches. Branchlets terete, reddish brown ; later gray, shining.
Bitter, acrid.

Wood. — Light brown, sapwood almost white ; light, hard, close-
grained. Sp. gr., 0.5462 ; weight of cu. ft., 34.04 Ibs.

Winter Buds. — Small, acute.

Leaves. — Alternate, simple, feather-veined, elliptical or oblong,
two to five inches long, one to two inches broad, wedge-shaped or
rounded at base, serrate or crenulate, acute or acuminate ; midrib
and primary veins yellow and conspicuous. They come out of the
bud conduplicate and densely coated with russet tomentum, when
full grown are dark yellow green, smooth above, paler and somewhat
hairy beneath. Petioles long, slender, downy. Stipules minute,
caducous.

Flowers. — May, June, when leaves are half grown ; perfect or
polygamo-dicecious, green, axillary, borne in few-flowered downy
umbels.

Calyx — Campanulate, five-lobed, lobes triangular, valvate in bud.
Disk lining the calyx tube.

Corolla. — Petals five, inserted on the disk, alternate with the
calyx-lobes, minute, ovate, notched at apex, involute around the
stamens in bud.

Stamens. — Five, opposite the petals, inserted on the disk ; fila-
ments short ; anthers in pairs, introrse, two-celled, cells opening
longitudinally ; rudimentary in pistillate flower.

Pistil. — Ovary superior, free, ovoid, two to four-celled ; rudimen-
tary in staminate flower ; style long ; stigma three-lobed ; ovules
one in each cell.

Fruit. — Drupaceous, globose, black, one-third of an inch in di-
ameter, resting on the base of the calyx ; flesh thin, sweet ; nutlets
two to four.

HIPPOCASTANACE.E— HORSE-CHESTNUT
FAMILY

OHIO BUCKEYE. FETID BUCKEYE

ALsculus gl&bra.
is derived from esca, nourishment. Glabra, smooth.

A tree varying in height from thirty to seventy feet, native only in
the valley of the Mississippi. Prefers the river bottoms ; nowhere
abundant, but widely distributed. Roots thick and fleshy. Reaches
its greatest development in the valley of the Tennessee and in
northern Alabama.

Bark. — Dark gray, densely furrowed, broken into plates. Branch-
lets orange brown and downy, later reddish brown and smooth,
marked with many lenticular spots, finally dark brown. Fetid, me-
dicinal.

Wood. — White, sapwood pale brown ; light, soft, close-grained.
Used especially in the manufacture of wooden limbs. Sp. gr., 0.4542;
weight of cu. ft., 28.31 Ibs.

Winter Buds. — Pale brown, two-thirds of an inch long, acute,
outer scales with glaucous bloom. Inner scales enlarge when spring
growth begins, become an inch and a half to two inches long, green-
ish yellow tipped with red and remain until leaves are nearly half
grown.

Leaves. — Opposite, digitately compound. Leaflets five, rarely
seven, oval, oblong, or ovate, gradually contracted at the base, ser-
rate, acuminate, feather-veined ; midrib and primary veins promi-
nent. They come out of the bud a shining brownish green, downy;
when full grown are yellow green above, paler beneath. In autumn
they turn a rusty yellow. Petiole long, grooved, swollen at base,
sometimes chaffy at the point where the leaflets diverge.

Flowers. — April, May, June. Terminal, polygamo-monoecious,
yellow green, unilateral; borne in terminal panicles five to six
inches long, two to three in breadth, more or less downy ; pedicels
four to six-flowered.

OHIO BUCKEYE

Flowering Spray of Ohio Buckeye, /Esculus glabra.

Leaflets 3' to (/ long.

HORSE-CHESTNUT FAMILY

Calyx. — Tubular, gibbous, five-lobed ; lobes unequal, imbricate
in bud ; disk annular, hypogynous.

Corolla. — Petals four, pale yellow, hairy, clawed, imbricate in bud.
Lateral pair oblong, superior pair oblong-spatulate, marked with red
stripes.

Stamens. — Seven, inserted on the disk, exserted ; filaments long,
curved, downy ; anthers dark yellow, elliptical, introrse, two-celled ;
cells opening longitudinally.

Pistil. — Ovary superior, one to three-celled, downy, echinate ;
style long, slender ; stigma pointed ; ovules two in each cell.

Fruit. — Coriaceous capsule, three-celled and loculicidally three-
valved, the cells by abortion one-seeded. Irregularly ovate, pale
brown, one to two inches long, very prickly when young, smooth-
ish at maturity. Seeds roundish, smooth, shining, chestnut-brown
with large round pale scar or hilum. October. Cotyledons thick
and fleshy, remaining underground in germination.

One naturally expects to find the Buckeye in Ohio. It
is called the Buckeye State, its inhabitants are called Buck-
eyes, and yet, strange to say, the Buckeye is not widely nor
very generally known to Ohioans. The reason for this is to
be sought in the character of the tree, for trees vary in so-
cial habits ; some are gregarious and live in communities,
others prefer solitude. A moment's reflection will show that
this is true. A maple grove is of frequent occurrence, an
oak forest is common enough, the beech alone often cov-
ers vast areas of woodland, but one never hears of an elm
forest ; an elm grove maybe found, but even that is unusual,
the elm occurs singly as do the willows and the sycamores.
The Buckeye, also, is a solitary tree ; though widely distrib-
uted it is nowhere abundant and is becoming less so from a
belief — well grounded it is said — on the part of farmers that
its nuts are poisonous to their cattle, sheep, and horses.
Consequently the trees have been very generally cut down
and are now comparatively rare.

Two questions naturally arise. Why was the fetid Horse-
chestnut called the Buckeye, and how did it happen that this
tree gave the soubriquet to the State of Ohio ? The local
and picturesque name is undoubtedly a tribute of the imag-
ination of the early settlers. We are all familiar with the

OHIO BUCKEYE

nut of the Horse-chestnut ; that of the Buckeye is similar.
When the shell cracks and exposes to view the rich brown
nut with the pale brown scar, the re-
semblance to the half-opened eye of
a deer is not fancied but real. From
this resemblance came the name
Buckeye.

How did it happen that Ohio was
called the Buckeye State ? No direct
evidence in the matter is forthcoming,

but circumstantial evidence is not Buckeye' *"***' Fruit
wanting. The younger Michaux,
travelling in this country in 1810, reports in his " Sylva
of North America " that he found the ^Esculus glabra prin-
cipally in Ohio, and that it was especially abundant on the
banks of the Ohio River between Marietta and Pittsburg.
For this reason he named the new tree Ohio Buckeye and
as the Ohio Buckeye it has since been known, though its
distribution is far wider than Michaux supposed. It was no
doubt an easy transition from Ohio Buckeye, to Ohio the
Buckeye State, but who accomplished the deed -seems not to
be known.

There is a great deal of confusion in the minds of many
persons with regard to the Buckeye and the Horse-chestnut.
Both belong to the one genus, but they are not the same
tree. The Horse-chestnut is European, the Buckeye na-
tive. The Horse-chestnut is seven-fingered, the Buckeye five-
fingered. The Horse-chestnut is the sturdier tree, the leaves
are larger, rougher, the flowers much more profuse and more
beautiful than those of the Buckeye. It is a fact well known
that European plants — herbs or trees — if they flourish in
America at all are very likely to produce sturdier plants
than the native representatives of the same genus. We all
know that our worst and most troublesome weeds are not
native but introduced. The Norway maple is a sturdier tree
than our native maples, the white willow is stronger than
any of our willows, the white and Lombardy poplars flourish

HORSE-CHESTNUT FAMILY

where our natives would die, and the Horse-chestnut is
stronger than the Buckeye. There is a certain delicacy of
fibre inseparable from all American native life. Perhaps
some day the biologist will read the riddle.

The Sweet Buckeye, sEsculus octdndra, is a beautiful tree of
the Alleghany Mountains, ranging from Pennsylvania to Ala-
bama and westward to the Indian Territory. It reaches its
greatest size in Tennessee and North Carolina. Its leaflets
are five to seven, dark yellow green and smooth, except the
midrib and veins which are sometimes downy. The flowers
are borne in panicles five to seven inches long, are yellow,
varying from pale to dark. The nuts are large, one and a
half to two inches broad, the capsule smooth. A variety of
this tree, SE. octandra hybrida, characterized by its red or
purple flowers, has long been a favorite in gardens, where it
often makes a handsome head of pendulous branches. The
name Sweet Buckeye means simply that the bark is less fetid
than that of others of the genus.

HORSE-CHESTNUT

j&scuhis hippocdstanum.
Hippocastanum from hippos, a horse, and castanea a chestnut.

Cultivated. Introduced into Europe in the seventeenth century.
Favorite tree for parks, lawns, and roadsides. Roots fleshy ; pre-
fers a strong, rich soil ; reaches the height of one hundred feet.

Bark. — Dark brown, roughened with small excrescences, or divided
by shallow fissures. Branchlets reddish brown, shining, at length
dark brown. Abounds in tannic acid, fetid.

Wood. — White, light, soft, close-grained, not durable.

Winter Buds. — Terminal, large, an inch to an inch and a half long,
covered with resinous gum, brown, axillary buds smaller. Scales
in pairs, closely imbricated, within are leaves completely formed
and packed in white to'mentum. Scales enlarge when spring growth
begins, the inner become yellow green tipped with red. One and
a half to two inches long before they fall.

Leaves. — Opposite, digitately compound. Leaflets seven, obovate,
five to seven inches long, wedge-shaped at base, serrate, acute or

SWEET BUCKEYE

Sweet Buckeye, /Esculus octandra.

Leaflets 4' to 7' long.

HORSE-CHESTNUT FAMILY

acuminate, feather-veined ; midrib and primary veins prominent.
They come out of the bud conduplicate, woolly, brownish green,
drooping ; when full grown are dark green, thick, rough above,
paler green beneath. In autumn they turn a rusty yellow. Peti-
oles long, grooved, swollen at the base, sometimes chaffy at the
point the leaflets diverge.

Flowers. — May, June. Terminal, polygamo-moncecious, white,
unilateral, borne in upright thyrsoid panicles; pedicles jointed, four
to six-flowered.

Calyx. — Campanulate, gibbous, five-lobed, lobes unequal, imbri-
cate in bud ; disk hypogynous, annular, lobed.

Corolla. — Petals five, imbricate in bud, alternate with calyx lobes,
more or less unequal, with claws, nearly hypogynous, spreading,
white, spotted with yellow and red.

Stamens. — Seven, inserted within the hypogynous disk ; filaments
thread-like, exserted, curved ; anthers introrse, two-celled ; cells
opening longitudinally.

Pistils. — Ovary superior, three-celled ; style thread-like ; stigma
pointed ; ovules two.

Fruit. — A coriaceous capsule, globular, rough, prickly, three or
two or one-celled by suppression, loculicidally three-valved. Seeds
or nuts solitary in each cell, brown, shining, with a large round pale
scar, or hilum. October. Embryo fills the seed ; cotyledons very
thick and fleshy, remaining underground in germination.

The Horse-chestnut in the earlier weeks of May is a sight for gods and
men. — PHILIP GILBERT HAMERTON.

No knowledge of technical terms is necessary to enable one to pull apart
one of the great horse-chestnut buds, to notice the water-proof varnish on the
outside, the scale armor just within, the soft downy padding which protects the
minute leaves and the tip of the stem from sudden changes of temperature, to
see that leaves or flower cluster are already formed in miniature ready to
burst their covering when the favorable time shall come. — GEORGE D. FIERCE.

Our well-known Horse-chestnut is a native of Greece and
began to be cultivated throughout Europe in the seventeenth
century. Standing alone and allowed to attain its natural
shape it becomes a stately tree. The trunk is erect, and
the branches come out with such regularity that it develops
a superb cone-like head. The branches almost invariably
take the compound curve, upward from the trunk, downward
as the branch lengthens, and upward at the tip.

The spray is clumsy, and in winter each twig is finished
by a large terminal bud an inch or more long, which bears

HORSE-CHESTNUT

Spray of Horse-chestnut, /Esculus bippocastanum.

Leaflets 5' to 7' long.

HORSE-CHESTNUT FAMILY

within its scales the leaves and flowers of the coming
year.

These buds are gummy and resinous all the time, but
when February comes and spring is in the air, they feel its
influence afar and glisten and glitter in the sunlight. When
the warm days really come the resinous coats drop off and
the leaves — tiny, downy, green babies, done up in woolly
blankets — come out with infancy written on every line of
their drooping surfaces.

The gray hoss-chestnut's leetle hands unfold
Softer'n a baby's be at three days old.

Not until they are full grown are they able to hold them-
selves horizontal. The growth of the leaves and shoots is
extremely rapid.

The flowers of the Horse-chestnut are superb, and a fine
tree in full bloom is a magnificent sight. The flower clusters
are what the botanists call a thyrsus. When a single flower
stands upon its own stem it is said to be solitary. When
this stem becomes a central axis and bears smaller stems
along its length the result is a raceme. When these sec-
ondary stems themselves branch, the raceme becomes a
panicle, and when this panicle stiffens and holds itself erect
it becomes technically a thyrsus. A well-known example is
the flower cluster of the common lilac.

It is always a surprise that there should be so few nuts
produced from such an abundance of bloom, for in spite of
all this floral display each cluster produces but two or three
fruit balls, and some of them not any. The reason is that
very few of these flowers are fertile, the most of them have
stamens only, with an aborted pistil which cannot produce
fruit. The fertile blossoms are at the base of the cluster.

The round, prickly, fruit balls split open when autumn
comes and show themselves to be lined with a strong white
covering ; they are partitioned in the middle and contain
two nuts, which look in color, markings, and polish for all
the world like a bit of well-rubbed mahogany.
* 58

HORSE-CHESTNUT

This nut shares with the potato, in the minds of many
people, the occult power of being able to cure rheumatism
by being carried on the person of the sufferer.

The tree is subject to a serious disease, now common and
widely spread throughout the northern
United States, which is due to a fun-
gus. This appears upon the leaf in
early summer in the form of a yellow
discoloration with a reddish margin.
Later, the patches become quite brown,
giving the leaves the appearance of
Horse-chestnut, SEscuius hip- having been scorched by fire, some-

pocastanum. Fruit il/2f • -\- r ^1 -j 'u i

^o 2, lon times extending from the midrib to the

margin of the leaflets. In time they

shrivel and fall, leaving the tree almost leafless in midsum-
mer. The liability to this disease is a serious objection to
the tree.

The name Horse-chestnut, which is only a literal transla-
tion of the specific Latin name hippocastanum, has been ac-
counted for in many ways. The obvious fact that the scar
of the leaf-stem really looks like the imprint of a horse's
hoof seems the most reasonable explanation of the name ;
many plants have been named for less.

The finest plantation of Horse-chestnuts in the world is
that of Bushey Park near Hampton Court, the ancient pal-
ace of Cardinal Wolsey. Five rows of trees stand on each
side of the avenue, and when these trees are in bloom the
daily papers announce the fact and all London goes out to
see the sight.

The Red Horse-chestnut, sEsculus rubicunda, common in
our gardens, is a tree of unknown origin. Professor Sargent
inclines to the belief that it is a hybrid between the common
Horse-chestnut, ;*Es. hippocastanum and sEs, pavia of the
southern states. It resembles the former in its leaves and
the latter in its flowers.

ACERACE.E— MAPLE FAMILY

STRIPED MAPLE. MOOSEWOOD

Acer pennsylvdnicum.

A small tree, thirty or forty feet high, with short trunk, slender
upright branches ; often much smaller and scrubby. Loves the
shade and forms much of the undergrowth of the forests of New
England and lower Canada. Roots fibrous.

Bark. — Reddish brown, marked longitudinally with broad pale
stripes, and roughened with numerous, horizontal, oblong excres-
cences. The branchlets are pale greenish yellow ; later, reddish
brown and finally striped like the trunk.

Winter Buds. — Red. The terminal bud when it contains an in-
florescence is half an inch long. . Axillary buds much shorter.
Scales enlarge when spring growth begins ; the inner scales be-
come an inch and a half to two inches long, changing to yellow or
rose before they fall.

Wood. — Pale brown, sapwood still paler; light, soft, close-
grained. Sp. gr., 0.5299; weight of cu. ft., 33.02 Ibs.

Leaves. — Opposite, simple, «five to six inches long, palmately
three-nerved, rounded or cordate at the base, doubly serrate, three-
lobed at the apex, the short lobes contracted into tapering serrate
points. They come out of the bud thin, pale rose color, and
downy ; when full grown are smooth, except some russet hairs at the
axils of the nerves, bright green above, paler beneath. In autumn
they turn a clear bright yellow. Petiole long, grooved, with en-
larged base.

Flowers. — May, when leaves are nearly grown, polygamo-monoe-
cious, yellow. Borne in slender, drooping, long-stemmed racemes ;
staminate and pistillate flowers usually in different racemes. Ped-
icels thread-like.

Calyx. — Five-parted, lobes linear or obovate. Disk annular.

Corolla. — Petals five, inserted on the base of the disk, obovate, as
long as the sepals, bright yellow, imbricate in bud.

STRIPED MAPLE

Striped Maple, Acer pennsyteanicum.

Leaves 5' to C/ long. /

MAPLE FAMILY

Stamens. — Seven or eight in the staminate flowers, rudimentary
in the pistillate. Hypogynous ; filaments short ; anthers introrse,
two-celled ; cells opening longitudinally.

Pistil. — Rudimentary in staminate flowers. In pistillate flowers,
ovary superior, purplish brown, downy, two-celled, compressed con-
trary to the clissepiment, wing-margined ; style short ; stigmas two,
recurved and spreading ; ovules two in each cell, one of which aborts.

Fruit. — Two samaras united forming a maple key. Borne in long
drooping racemes, smooth, with thin spreading wings three-fourths to
an inch long ; on one side of each nutlet is a small cavity. Seeds dark
reddish brown. September. Cotyledons thin, irregularly plicate.

This maple is a mountain tree. It has no special economic
value, but its beauty is its sufficient " excuse for being." The
delicate and exquisite coloring of opening foliage is too often
lost upon the heedless observer, unless
something appears so striking that it
cannot be ignored. But in the spring-
time this dryad of a tree, slender, deli-
cate, clothed in a misty rosy sheen of
buds and opening leaves, compels every
passer-by to admire
its beauty. Later its
yellow flowers hang in
long, graceful, droop-
ing racemes and are
succeeded by large
showy keys with pale
green, divergent
wings. Its leaves are
the largest of all our
maples.

The New England
name Moosewood re-
fers to the fact that
the bark and branch,
lets are the favorite

Keys of Striped U^ Acer Pennsylvania {QQ^ Qf ^ ^^

Emerson says that in their " winter beats " this tree is
always found completely stripped. Evidently the moose

MOUNTAIN MAPLE

Fruiting Spray of Mountain Maple, Acer spicatum.

Leaves 4' to 5' long. Frtiit half grown.

MAPLE FAMILY

knows a good thing when he finds it, for the young and ten-
der shoots are filled with saccharine juice, which he fully
appreciates.

It is now well known by botanists that the headquarters of
the maples is not in America, but in Asia. North America
has but nine species, China and Japan have over thirty. It
is estimated that fully one-third of the deciduous forests of
Japan is composed of different species of maples. Professor
Sargent records that among these maples is one barely dis-
tinguishable from our Ace r pennsylvanicum.

MOUNTAIN MAPLE

Acer spicbtum.

A bushy tree sometimes thirty feet high, more often a shrub.
Flourishes in the shade and forms much of the undergrowth of the
forests. Ranges from lower St. Lawrence River to northern Min-
nesota and region of the Saskatchewan River ; south through the
northern states and along the Appalachian Mountains to Georgia.
Roots fibrous.

Bark.— Reddish brown, slightly furrowed. Branchlets terete,
at first gray and downy, then reddish, later, gray again and at last
brown .

Wood. — Pale reddish brown, sapwood paler ; light, soft, close-
grained. Sp. gr., 0.5330; weight of cu. ft., 33.22 Ibs.

Winter Buds. — Terminal flower bud an eighth of an inch long,
tomentose ; leaf buds smaller, acute, red ; scales enlarge when
spring growth begins ; the inner scales lengthen until they are an
inch or more long, become pale and papery before they fall.

Leaves. — Opposite, simple, palmately-lobed, sometimes slightly
five-lobed ; conspicuously three-nerved with prominent veinlets.
Four to five inches long, cordate or truncate at base, serrate ; lobes
acute or acuminate. They come out of the bud pale green, very
woolly on the under surface ; when full grown are smooth above
and covered with whitish down beneath. In autumn they turn
scarlet and orange. Petioles long, slender, with enlarged base,
scarlet in midsummer.

Flowers. — June, after the leaves are full grown. Polygamo-mo-
ncecious, greenish yellow ; small, borne in upright, slightly conWl
pound, long, hairy, terminal racemes, five to six inches long ; thw
sterile at the end of the raceme and the fertile at the base. Pedicels
thread-like.

f>4

MOUNTAIN MAPLE

Calyx. — Five-lobed, lobes obovate, downy, much shorter than
the petals ; disk annular.

Corolla. — Petals five, linear-spatulate, greenish yellow, imbricate
in bud.

Stamens. — Seven to eight, inserted on the disk, filaments thread-
like, exserted in the sterile and abortive in the fertile flowers ; an-
thers oblong, attached at base, introrse, two-celled ; cells opening
longitudinally.

Pistil. — Ovary superior, tomentose, two-lobed, two-celled, com-
pressed contrary to the dissepiment, wing-margined ; style colum-
nar ; stigma two-lobed. Ovules two in each cell, one of which
aborts. In sterile flowers the pistil becomes a tuft of white hairs.

Fruit. — Two samaras united, forming a maple key ; bright red
in July, brown in autumn ; smooth, borne in a pendulous raceme.
Wings more or less divergent. Seeds dark brown. September.
Cotyledons thick and fleshy.

The Mountain Maple is another example of a tree that has
accepted its home in the shade of other
trees. It grows on moist rocky hillsides
and ranges across the continent westward
to the Rocky Mountains, northward to the
valley of the St. Lawrence River, and
southward to Georgia. At the north it
is a shrub, often seen growing by the side
of a mountain road. It is our one maple
that bears an upright raceme of flowers,
but when the flowers have given place to
fruit the raceme droops.

The fruits of all the maples are very
similar. An acorn is no more the char-
acteristic fruit of the oaks than the maple
key is of the maples. This is a double
samara, composed of two carpels, separ-
able from a small persistent axis ; these
carpels are compressed laterally, and
each is produced into a reticulated wing. Keys of Mountain Maple,

rp.1 . . , <Accr spicatum.

These wings are thick on the lower mar-
gin, but very thin and papery on the upper. The keys do
not fly as they would were they better balanced, but they

MAPLE FAMILY

launch the seeds some distance from the parent tree and so
perform their part in the economy of nature.

SUGAR MAPLE. ROCK MAPLE.

Acer bdrbatum. Acer sacchdrum.

Widely distributed and abundant throughout eastern North
America in rich uplands and intervale. Grows rapidly with a large
fibrous root which at first is near the surface but finally penetrates
deep. In the forest often reaches the height of one hundred and
twenty feet. Produces most of the maple sugar of commerce. A
variety, the Black Maple, A. saccharum nigrum, is recognized.

Bark. — On young trees and large limbs light gray, smooth and
slightly furrowed ; on old trees dark, with deep longitudinal furrows,
shaggy. Branchlets green, later yellowish brown, shining, marked
with pale lenticels, finally pale brown.

Wood. — Light brown, tinged with red ; heavy, hard, strong, tough
and close-grained, capable of a fine polish. Much used in in-
terior furnishing of buildings, manufacture of furniture, handles of
tools ; has a high fuel value. Curled and bird's-eye are accidental
varieties. Sp. gr., 0.6912 ; weight of cu. ft., 43.08 Ibs.

Winter Buds. — Purplish, quarter of an inch long, acute. Scales
enlarge when spring growth begins ; the inner scales become an inch
and a half long, downy and bright yellow before they fall.

Leaves. — Opposite, simple, three to five inches long and of greater
breadth. Of five diverging lobes which are separated by rounded
sinuses. The two lower are smaller and shorter than the others,
each lobe tapers to a slender point and each contains a primary
vein. Base, heart-shaped by broad or narrow sinus, or truncate, or
wedge-shaped. Margin sparingly toothed. They come out of the
bud tawny, coated with tomentum, when full grown are bright or
dark green on upper surface, pale green on lower. In autumn they
turn crimson, scarlet, orange and clear yellow. Petioles long, slen-
der, often reddish.

Flowers. — May. Polygamo-moncecious or dioecious. Greenish
yellow, appearing with the leaves in umbel-like corymbs from termi-
nal leafy buds and lateral leafless ones. Sterile and fertile flowers
are in separate clusters on the same or on different trees, fertile
flowers terminal and'sterile usually lateral. Pedicels hairy, thread-
like, one and a half to three inches long.

Calyx. — CampanUlate, five-lobed, lobes imbricate in bud, hairy.

Corolla. — Wanting.

SUGAR MAPLE

Sugar Maple, Acer saccharum,

Leaves 3' to 5' long.

MAPLE FAMILY

Stamens.— Seven to eight inserted on the disk, hairy ; filaments
long in the sterile flowers, short in the fertile ones. Anthers introrse,
two-celled ; cells opening longitudinally.

Pistil. — Ovary superior, hairy, two-celled, compressed contrary to
the dissepiments, wing-margined ; style of two long, exserted, stig-
matic lobes, united at base only ; ovules two in each cell, one of
which aborts,

Fruit. — Two samaras united forming a maple key. Borne in
clusters on long pendulous footstalks. Wings vary from one-half
to one inch long, brown, thin, divergent. One capsule of the key is
usually, empty. Seeds reddish brown. September. Cotyledons
thick, leaf-like.

South America possesses the Milk Tree, India the Bread Tree, but it is
reserved as a sort of climatic paradox for our temperate north to furnish the
very top of luxury in the shape of the Sugar Tree. A man who could persuade
these three staple producers to grow on his plantation could henceforth live
independent of the milkman, the baker, and the grocer. It would be easy work
to gather the yield of the two tropical trees, but the sweet of the maple would
still have to be gained by the sweat of the brow. Besides its delicious sweet-
ness, there is a rich, almost oleaginous quality in maple syrup which suggests
what the maple nut would have been if Nature had said, " Consider the ways
of the hickory, beech, and chestnut, how thrifty and hospitable ! Their bounty
keeps my birds and my four-footed groundlings all winter through. Do thou
ripen a kernel of thine own more toothsome than theirs." What Nature did
say was briefly and practically, " Invest in sugar." More cold, more sweet,
seems to be the law governing the saccharine supply, as though there were
warmth and food in the sugar principle, and as though it were excited by keen
weather to greater activity in order to meet the needs of the tree.* The sap of
all wood in early spring is perceptibly sweet. If the discharge of sap from
other trees were as free as from the maple it might be profitable to tap them
also, as the butternut, for example. It is plain that Nature drops a little sugar
in the milk on which she rears her nursery. All young ones love sweets, even
to the baby leaves on the old trees. —EDITH THOMAS.

Unquestionably, the Sugar Maple ranks among the finest
of American forest trees. It is both useful and beautiful.
When young its full leafy head is often a pure oval. In the
forest it frequently rises seventy feet without a branch, and
spreads its leaves to the sunlight one hundred and twenty
feet above its base. When growing in the open it some-
times develops into a great cylindrical column, sometimes its
head becomes a broad dome. The foliage is always dense.
Erect in youth and maturity, in old age its trunk is often
gnarled and disfigured.

SUGAR MAPLE

The Sugar Maple makes up a great part of the native for-
est of New England and the middle states. In the race of
life it has scored two points ; it has learned to labor and to
wait. It can grow as tall as any of its forest companions
and it also knows how to prosper while young, in the shade.
Consequently, there is always a young maple in training
ready to take the place of any dead or dying tree. This
characteristic alone has enabled it to take precedence of
other trees.

The leaves come out of the buds tawny and drooping, nor
are they able to hold themselves out firm until they have
attained nearly full size.
The flowers appear with
the leaves, are greenish
yellow and borne in clus-
ters on thread-like hairy
pedicels, two and a half
inches long. The fruit or
maple key ripens in early
autumn, and although it

Key of Sugar Maple, tAcer saccharnm.

appears to be fully de-
veloped, one rarely finds perfect seed in each of the two
divisions.

This is the tree which produces the maple sugar of com-
merce. The testimony of early travellers shows that the
Indians, like the moose and the woodpecker, knew all about
the sweetness of the maple sap, but it is doubtful if they
were able to make maple sugar before the coming of the
Europeans ; however, the making of maple sugar was an
established industry among them during the last half of the
seventeenth century. Sugar-making begins with the upward
flow of the crude sap in February or March and continues
until the buds begin to swell ; when this occurs the sap will
not run freely and thoroughly changes in character. Trees
twenty or thirty years old are considered the most productive,
though there are instances of trees which have yielded sugar
every year for a century and are still vigorous and fruitful.

MAPLE FAMILY

Much of the splendor of our radiant forests in early
autumn is due to the brilliant coloring of the Sugar Maple.
It glows in red which deepens into crimson, it flames in yel-
low that darkens into orange. These wonderful leaves will
show colors as pure as any on the finest porcelain ; a dark
green leaf will show a single spot of crimson, a dark red
bears a single lobe of rose pink. The next will have a patch-
work of yellow and purple and scarlet, like a palette set for a
sunset picture. Sometimes a single branch will turn bright
scarlet while all the rest of the tree remains green. Indi-
vidual trees vary in time and manner of change, and to some
degree these peculiarities are fixed ; for example, certain
trees always turn yellow, others always turn red, while there
are others that vary with changing conditions.

There seems to be a very general popular impression that
the colors of the leaves in autumn are dependent upon the
frosts. Careful observation does not sustain this view. It
is true that the brilliancy of the autumnal coloring varies ;
but the changes are now referred rather to the character of
the preceding summer than to the frosts of autumn. If the
summer has been rainy, keeping the leaves full of sap and
the cuticle thin and distended, the autumn tints are brilliant ;
but if the summer has been dry the tints are dull.

Two great problems are connected with the fall of the
leaves of deciduous trees. One, why do they take on such
gorgeous colors ; and the other, how is it they fall leaving
no open wounds behind ? What are the morphological and
physiological changes which produce these results ? The
following is perhaps as clear a statement of the present
opinion 'of biologists as can be given in popular form :

The casting of the leaf is not a sudden and quick response to any single
change in environmental conditions, but is brought about with a complex inter-
play of processes begun days or perhaps weeks before any external changes
are to be seen. The leaf is rich in two classes of substances, one of which is of
no further benefit to it, and another which it has constructed at great expense
of energy, and which is in a form of the highest possible usefulness to the plant.
To this class belong the compounds in the protoplasm, the green color bodies,
and whatever surplus food may not have been previously conveyed away. The

SILVER MAPLE

Silver Maple, Acer saccharinum.

Leaves 5' to f long.

MAPLE FAMILY

The Silver Maple, both in poise and outline, suggests the
elm. Its trunk divides into secondary stems, its branches
have an airy upward and outward sweep and its terminal
branchlets are slender and drooping ; then, too, the bark is
often shaggy on trunk and limbs, making the resemblance
still greater. The finely cut leaves hang on long and slender
footstalks and sway with every passing breeze, thus showing
the silvery whiteness of their under surface and giving to the
foliage a delicacy of texture all its own.

The tree is a rapid grower, is comparatively free from seri-
ous disease, adapts itself to a great variety of soils, and these
characteristics have made it a general favorite with those
who desire to secure shade trees with as little delay as possi-

Key of Silver Maple, tAcer saccharinum.

ble. However, it does not flourish on dry and elevated
ground, and should never be planted in such locations, as it
soon suffers, the branches become brittle and the tree in time
unsightly. It is the first tree to blossom in early spring,
coming out a week or two before either the red maple or the
elm ; in fact it is ready to open its buds at the slightest prov-
ocation any time during the winter.

The fruit grows as the leaves develop and ripens in early
summer. The keys are large with long stiff wings set at
wide angles. If planted they will produce tiny trees before
winter comes.

The autumnal tint of the Silver Maple often varies from
the usual pale dull yellow to a brilliant yellow and scarlet.

RED MAPLE

RED MAPLE. SWAMP MAPLE. SOFT MAPLE.

Acer rhbrum.

Generally distributed throughout eastern North America. Loves
the borders of streams and low swamp lands which it sometimes
covers to the exclusion of other trees. Will grow when planted on
rich, well dressed, upland soil. Roots large, and fibrous. Grows
rapidly. Attains the height of eighty to one hundred feet with trunk
three to four feet in diameter. Its upright branches form a narrow
head. The sap will produce sugar, but not abundantly.

Bark. — Dark gray, divided by longitudinal ridges, the surface
separating into large scales. Branchlets green or dark red, later
bright red and shining, marked by many white lenticels, finally
they become light gray tinged with red, sometimes almost white.

Wood. — Light brown tinged with red, sapwood lighter ; heavy,
close-grained. Not very strong, smooth satiny surface. Presents
curled and bird's eye varieties. Used for cabinet work, is suffi-
ciently elastic to be used for oars ; fuel value is high. Sp. gr.,
0.6178; weight of cu. ft., 38.50 Ibs.

Winter Buds. — Flower buds aggregated, obtuse, red. Leaf buds
obtuse, red, one-eighth of an inch long. The scales enlarge when
spring growth begins, the inner become three-quarters of an inch
long, narrow, and bright scarlet.

Leaves. — Opposite, simple, two to six inches long, rather longer
than broad, palmately three to five-lobed, lobes separated by acute
sinuses, middle lobe longer than the others ; lobes irregularly doubly
serrate or toothed. Base more or less heart-shaped or truncate;
principal nerves conspicuous. They come out of the bud pale green
and downy, when full grown are smooth, bright green above, whit-
ish and downy beneath. In autumn they turn scarlet or crimson.
Petioles long, slender, red or green.

Flowers. — March, April, before the leaves. Polygamo-moncecious,
or dioecious. Rich crimson or scarlet or dull yellowish red. Borne
on the branchlets of the previous year in few-flowered fascicles, on
short pedicels.

Calyx. — Sepals four to five, oblong, obtuse, red, imbricate in bud.

Petals. — Four to five, linear, red, imbricate in bud.

Stamens. — Five to six, scarlet ; filaments slender, exserted in the
staminate, included in the pistillate ; anthers oblong, introrse, two-
celled ; cells opening longitudinally.

Pistil. — Ovary superior, two-lobed, two-celled, compressed con-
trary to the dissepiments, wing-margined, smooth, borne on a narrow
disk. Styles two, united for a short distance, then separated into
long, exserted, sttgmatic lobes. Ovules two in each cell.

MAPLE FAMILY

Fruit. — Two samaras united forming a maple key. Borne on
drooping stems three to four inches long ; scarlet, dark red, some-
times brown ; wings thin, convergent at first, divergent when full
grown, one-half to an inch long, one-fourth to one-half an inch broad.
May, June. Seed dark red, germinates immediately after falling to
the ground. Cotyledons thin.

The scarlet maple-keys betray,
What potent blood hath modest May.

—RALPH WALDO EMERSON.

The maple crimsons to a coral reef.

— JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL.

A small Red Maple has grown, perchance, far away at the head of some retired
valley, a mile from any road, unobserved. It has faithfully discharged all the
duties of a maple there, all winter and summer neglected none of its economies,
but added to its stature in the virtue which belongs to a maple, by a steady
growth for so many months, and is nearer heaven than it was in the spring. It
has faithfully husbanded its sap, and afforded a shelter to the wandering bird,
has long since ripened its seeds and committed them to the winds. It deserves
well of mapledom. Its leaves have been asking it from time to time in a whis-
per, " When shall we redden? " and now in this month of September, this month
of travelling, when men are hastening to the seaside, or the mountains, or the
lakes, this modest maple, still without budging an inch, travels in its reputa-
tion — runs up its scarlet-flag on that hillside, which shows that it has finished its
summer's work before all other trees, and withdrawn from the contest. At the
eleventh hour of the year, the tree which no scrutiny could have detected here
when it was most industrious is thus, by the tint of its maturity, by its very
blushes, revealed at last to the careless and distant traveller, and leads his
thoughts away from the dusty road into those brave solitudes which it inhabits ; it
flashes out conspicuous with all the virtue and beauty of a maple — Acer rubrum.
We may now read its title, or rubric, clear. Its virtues not its sins are as scarlet.

— HENRY D. THOREAU.

Never was a tree more appropriately named than the Red
Maple. Its first blossom flushes red in the April sunlight, its
keys ripen scarlet in early May, all summer long its leaves
swing on crimson or scarlet stems, its young twigs flame in
the same colors and later, amid all the brilliancy of the au-
tumnal forest, it stands pre-eminent and unapproachable.

The Red Maple shows a decided tendency to vary in the
shape of its leaves. For this reason it has been divided into
varieties, but these have been given up because the charac-
ters do not remain constant. Of two red maples standing

RED MAPLE

Red Maple, Acer rubrum.

Leaves 2' to 6' long.

MAPLE FAMILY

Key of Red Maple, *Ace
rubrum.

side by side, one may have large, thin, five-lobed leaves, and
the other small, thick, three-lobed leaves, or both forms may
be found on different parts of the same
tree, and sometimes even on the same
branch.

The flowers appear very early, only
those of the silver maple precede them.
Perfect flowers occasionally occur, but
generally the staminate and pistillate
flowers are produced on separate trees,
although a branch with staminate flow-
ers can be found on a tree on which the
flowers are pistillate, and individual pistil-
late clusters on a staminate branch. If
the tree is very red, one may be certain
that the flowers are pistillate, but if yel-
lowish they are staminate.
All the maples show what is called the curled and bird's-eye
varieties. These are an accidental and fortuitous arrange-
ment of the woody fibre, and as there is no marked outward
indication of these varieties, only experienced woodsmen can
detect them in the living tree, which they do from some slight
peculiarities of the bark. It is said that these forms are
found only in old trees. Such lumber is now very valuable
for the interior furnishings of rooms, railway-cars, and steam-
ship saloons. How many such trees were destroyed in the early
days through ignorance or indifference no one knows, ^re-
call a country home where the kitchen-stove was fed one
entire winter with the most beautiful curled and bird's-eye ma-
ple, carefully cut into cordwood eighteen inches in length.
Of course the owner knew nothing of the existence of these
trees until they confronted him in his woodpile, and his anger
and dismay may be imagined as he bewailed the stupidity of
his workmen.

NORWAY MAPLE

Fruiting Spray of Norway Maple, Acer platanoides,

Leaves 3' to 5' long.

MAPLE FAMILY

NORWAY MAPLE

Acer platanoldes

The beautiful Norway Maple standing by the curb-stone
is a common sight in our city streets. Its roots strike deep
and spread laterally, this enables it to hold its own in the
struggle with city environments. It comes to us from
Europe, its range there extending from Norway to Switzer-
land. The leaves have a marked resemblance to those of
the sugar maple, in form, but are thicker in texture and
darker in color. They remain upon the tree fully two weeks
longer than those of our native maples and become yellow
or fall with little change of color. The petioles are long and
when broken exude an acrid milky sap which quickly coag-
ulates. This peculiarity enables one to determine the tree
with little difficulty. The greenish flowers appear with the
leaves in a short corymbose raceme ; the fruit, also borne in
short racemes, is a key with widely divergent wings.

The tree reaches the height of sixty feet, develops abroad
round head, and becomes strong and sturdy. Its winter
buds are large and red ; its branchlets at first are green,
later they become reddish brown and shining.

SYCAMORE MAPLE

A cer pseudo-pla t&n us

This most beautiful of European maples is also planted as
an ornamental tree, but it does not seem to take kindly to
our climate, failing to become either large or long-lived in
the United States. Its leaves resemble those of the sugar
maple in general form, but are much darker green in color
and of thicker texture.

The green flowers appear with the leaves, are about the
size of a currant blossom and borne in long, drooping, com-

SYCAMORE MAPLE

Fruiting Spray of Sycamore Maple, Acer pseudo-platanns.

Leaves 3' to 5' long.

MAPLE FAMILY

pound clusters ; both rachis and pedicels are hairy. The
keys likewise are borne in pendulous clusters, their wings di-
verge, but are not as divergent as those of the Norway Maple.
Like the Norway it holds its leaves two weeks longer than
our native species. This is a characteristic of all our accli-
mated European trees. It is native to central Europe and
was brought into England in the time of Queen Elizabeth,
where it has become perfectly acclimated.

The history of its common name Sycamore is most inter-
esting. Sycamore is derived from two Greek words, one
meaning fig and the other mulberry. But this sycamore
bears neither figs nor mulberries, nor does its fruit in any
respect resemble either. In the New Testament story it is
said that Zaccheus climbed a sycamore tree in order that he
might better see Jesus as he passed by. That sycamore was
a fig-tree, common enough by the wayside in Palestine and
Egypt, but not native in Europe. The interesting question
is how did this European maple get the name of the eastern
fig-tree ? Simply through word transference. In the twelfth
and thirteenth centuries, when miracle plays were produced
in all the churches of Europe for the instruction of the peo-
ple, one of the favorite scenes for acting was the flight into
Egypt of Joseph and Mary. It was easily put upon the
stage. One legend says that on their way they rested under
a sycamore tree. But no sycamores grew in the countries
where these plays were acted and so this maple was chosen
to take its place, because the leaves were somewhat like
those of the true sycamore. In the play it was called syca-
more, and naturally the people began to call it sycamore, and
such it has remained to this day.

BOX ELDER

BOX ELDER. ASH-LEAVED MAPLE

Acer negtindo.

Distributed across the continent, abundant throughout the Mis-
sissippi valley along banks of streams and borders of swamps.
Prefers a deep rich soil and attains the height of fifty to seventy feet.
The trunk often divides near the ground into a number of stout wide-
spreading branches. Grows rapidly.

Bark. — Pale gray or light brown, deeply cleft into broad ridges,
scaly. Branchlets pale green, later are bright green, sometimes
purplish with a bloom, lenticular for several years.

Wood. — Cream-white ; light, soft, close-grained, not strong ; used
for wooden ware and paper pulp. Sp. gr., 0.4328 ; weight of cu. ft.,
26.97 Ibs.

Winter Buds. — Terminal buds acute, an eighth of an inch long.
Lateral buds obtuse. The inner scales enlarge when spring growth
begins and often become an inch long before they fall.

Leaves. — Opposite, compound, of three to five leaflets. Leaflets
two to four inches long, two to three inches broad, oval or ovate,
rounded or wedge-shaped at. base, coarsely and irregularly serrate,
acute. The odd leaflet is oftener three-lobed than simple ; midrib
and veins conspicuous. They come out of the bud with under sur-
face coated with tomentum, when full grown are more or less downy,
bright light green above, paler beneath. In autumn they turn a
pale yellow. Petioles long, slender, two or three inches long, bases
enlarged and often hairy. Stipules caducous.

Flowers. — April, before the leaves, dioecious, yellow green ;
staminate flowers in clusters on slender hairy pedicels one and a half
to two inches long. Pistillate flowers in narrow drooping racemes.

Calyx. — Yellow green ; staminate flowers campanulate, five-lobed,
hairy. Pistillate flowers smaller, five-parted ; disk rudimentary.

Corolla. — Wanting.

Stamens. — Four to six, exserted ; filaments slender, hairy ; an-
thers linear, connective pointed.

Pistil. — Ovary hairy, borne on disk, partly enclosed by calyx,
two-celled, wing-margined. Styles separate at base in% two stig-
matic lobes.

Fruit. — Maple keys, full size in early summer. Borne in droop-
ing racemes, pedicels one to two inches long. Key an inch and a
half to two inches long, nutlets diverging, wings straight or incurved.
September. Seed half an inch long. Cotyledons, thin, narrow.

MAPLE FAMILY

This is our only maple with compound leaves, and so ac-
customed are we to simple leaves for the maples that were

it not for the keys hanging
in graceful clusters from the
branches we should question
its right to be a maple. But
just as certainly as an acorn in-
dicates an oak, so does a maple
key characterize a maple.

The Ash-leaved Maple is a
handsome tree with spreading
branches. Its habitat extends
as far east as Cayuga Lake,
New York, west to the foot-
hills of the Rockies, north to
Winnepeg and south to Flor-
ida. Compared with its com-
panions on the river bottoms
it is a small tree, and like the
sugar maple it can flourish in
the shade. The tree is rare
east of the Appalachian range
and beyond the Rockies it
undergoes a mountain change
and appears in California as
a different variety. It grows
rapidly and is now largely
planted in the treeless west,
and, strange to say, this lover
of water accepts the climatic
change and flourishes. Like the silver maple there is no
touch of red in its autumnal coloring, its leaves become a
pure pale yellow before they fall.

Keys of Box Elder, Acer negundo.

BOX ELDER

Fruiting Spray of Box Elder, Acer negundo.

Leaflets 2' to 4' long.

ANACARDlACE^E— SUMACH FAMILY

VELVET SUMACH. STAGHORN SUMACH

Rhiis hirta—Rhiis typhina

Rhus is by some referred to a Celtic word meaning red ; others
derive it from the Greek word meaning run, because the roots
spread underground to a considerable distance from the., trunk ;
still others refer it to a Greek word which indicates its value
medicinally. Typhina giant, this being the largest of the North
American species. Hirta, hairy. Sumach is derived from Simaq
the Arabic name of the plant.

A small tree with a slender and slightly leaning trunk, with stout
spreading and often contorted branches which form a flat head ;
oftener it is a shrub spreading by suckers into thickets along fences
and in neglected fields. Roots fleshy ; juice milky and viscid, turn-
ing black when exposed to the air. Small branches and young stems
pithy. Short-lived. Prefers calcareous soil.

Bark. — Smooth, dark brown, sometimes scaly. Branchlets stout,
clumsy, coated with long, soft, pink hairs, which change to green and
then brown. Branchlets do not become smooth until at least three
years old ; in their second year are marked with many lenticels.
Bark rich in tannin.

Wood. — Orange color streaked with green ; light, brittle, soft,
coarse-grained, with satiny surface. Sp. gr., 0.4357 ; weight of cu.
ft., 27.15 Ibs.

Winter Buds. — Terminal bud, large, obtuse ; axillary buds,
smaller, globular.

Leaves. — Alternate, unequally pinnately compound, sixteen to
twenty-four inches long ; petiole stout, hairy, enlarged at the base,
reddish, and surrounds and encloses the leaf bud in its axil. Leaf-
lets eleven to thirty-one, two to five inches long, almost sessile, ob-
long, rounded or heart-shaped, slightly unequal at base, serrate,
acuminate, middle pairs longer than the others ; midrib prominent,
and primary veins forking near the margin. They come out of the

STAGHORN SUMACH

Fruit and Leaf of Staghorn Sumach, Rbus birta.

Leaves 16' to 24' long. Leaflets 2' to 5' long.

SUMACH FAMILY

bud yellow green, covered as are the shoot and petiole with bright
red hairs. When full grown they become smooth, somewhat darker
above, and pale or whitish beneath. In autumn they turn scarlet,
varied by shades of crimson, yellow, and orange.

Flowers. — May, June. Dioecious, yellowish green, sometimes
tinged with red. In dense panicles with downy steins and branches
and large bracts which fall at the opening of the flowers. The pani-
cle of sterile flowers is eight to twelve inches long, five to six inches
broad, with spreading branches and is nearly a third larger than the
more compact fertile panicle.

Calyx. — Five-lobed, lobes acute, hairy ; imbricate in bud, in
staminate flowers shorter than the petals ; in pistillate flowers about
the same length.

Corolla. — Petals five, imbricate in bud, longer than and alternate
with the lobes of the calyx, inserted under the margin of the fleshy
red disk surrounding the ovary. In staminate flower, yellow green
tinged with red, strap-shaped ; in pistillate, green, narrow and acu-
minate.

Stamens. — Five, inserted on the disk, alternate with the petals ; in
staminate flowers exserted with large, bright, orange-colored anthers ;
in the pistillate flower, short with rudimentary anthers. Anthers
large, introrse.

Pistil. — Ovary ovoid, downy, with three short spreading styles ; in
the staminate flower often rudimentary.

Fruit. — Dry drupe ; not poisonous. Borne in terminal thyrse-like
panicles six to eight inches long, two to three inches broad, which
become full grown and bright red in August but not fully mature
until October and remain on the tree all winter. Depressed-globular,
with a thin covering, clothed with long crimson hairs. Cotyledons
flat, leaf-like.

The Velvet Sumach is well named, for its twigs and
branches are really velvety to the eye and to the touch. No
other of our native trees sends forth its leaves and twigs with
so royal a covering. The branchlets are coated with long,
soft, pink hairs when they first come forth, later these turn a
bright green, then brown and finally in their second summer
become short and almost black. For two years the growing
wood of the Sumach is clothed in velvet.

The name Staghorn may be explained in two ways, one
quite as good as the other. Some say that the early observ-
ers saw a certain likeness between the forking leafless
branches and a stag's horn, others, that the soft velvety down

VELVET SUMACH

which covers the growing shoot is the point of resemblance
to a young stag's horn.

The beauty of the Sumach lies entirely in its foliage ; the
leafless tree is stiff, awkward and clumsy, but after the leaves
come out it is a different creature, clean-cut and beautiful all
summer long. Its long, pinnately compound leaves are borne
in tufts at the end of the branches, the main stem is either
horizontal or slightly curved upward, while the leaflets have
a decided tendency to hang down. These lift and sway with
every passing breeze, and when the whole is crowned, as it so
often is, with a great thyrsoid panicle of bright red fruit
standing out from the centre of each leafy tuft, the effect is
unique and beautiful. The little drupes which make the
panicles are covered with crimson down which is charged
with malic acid, sour but agreeable to the taste. They re-
main on the tree all winter and become the food of the birds.

In autumn all the sumachs, large and small, are wonderful
for the brilliancy of their coloring. They glow in scarlet and
gold which sometimes deepens to crimson and orange. The
Velvet Sumach makes thickets on its own account, its smaller
brother, J?. glabra, the Smooth Sumach, follows its example,
and along the fences, over deserted fields and up the rocky,
gravelly, mountain-side they fling their magnificent beauty
through all the October days.

" Like glowing lava streams the sumach crawls
Upon the mountain's granite walls."

The Velvet Sumach is dioecious. The staminate flowers
have an ovary, but this aborts in process of development and
only the pistillate produce fruit. The sterile trees flower
fully a week or ten days earlier than the fertile ones.

The color of the wood is peculiar and striking, being a sort
of greenish orange, but the tree never grows large enough to
furnish wood available for anything more than sticks and
boxes.

Rhus copallina, the Dwarf or Mountain Sumach, at the north
is a shrub, but in the mountains of North Carolina and Ten-

SUMACH FAMILY

nessee it becomes a tree. The leaves are pinnate, six to
twelve inches long, the rachis is wing-margined ; leaflets nine
to twenty-one, ovate-lanceolate, acute, margins entire except a
few serrate teeth near the apex. The fruit consists of crim-
son hairy drupes borne in a dense terminal panicle. The leaves
and bark contain much tannin and are collected in large quan-
tities in the southern states and used for tanning leather.

The family Rhus is widely distributed throughout the
temperate regions of the world ; more than a hundred species
have been distinguished and these are in Africa, Asia, North
America, South America, Indian Archipelago, Australia and
the Sandwich Islands. Its traces are also abundant in the
late eocene and the miocene rocks of Europe, but rare in the
arctic tertiary. Many species possess useful properties, and
some are of commercial importance. The bark and leaves
of all are rich in tannin, and one species, Rhus coriaria of
southern Europe, is cultivated expressly for the tannin of its
leaves, which, dried and powdered, are used in curing the best
qualities of leather.

The famous lacquer of Japan which has made the cabinet
work of the Japanese unequalled for centuries, is produced
by a sumach tree which is cultivated expressly for its milky
juice. The tree is allowed to reach the age of ten years and
then incisions are made on the trunk and large branches, the
sap collected, the small branches cut off and soaked in water ;
the tree in short is killed for its heart's blood. The yield is
surprisingly small, only two or three ounces from a single tree.
It seems that the tree cannot be tapped year after year as
we tap maple trees, the product of the second year is poor
and that of the third year nothing whatever ; so the tree is
killed outright.

Cotinus cotinoides belongs to the Rhus family and is the
cultivated Smoke-tree of the gardens. The flowers are very
small, purplish, and borne in loose panicles. After calyx and
corolla drop, the pedicels lengthen, become hairy and form
great feathery bunches, green or dull red, which cover the
tree and transform it into a misty, cloudy, billowy mass.

DWARF SUMACH

Dwarf Sumach, Rbiis co^allma.

Leaves (/ to 12' long. Leaflets .2' to 4' long.

SUMACH FAMILY

POISON SUMACH. POISON DOGWOOD

Rhds vtrnix. Rhus venen&ta.

A small tree, eighteen to twenty feet high, with acrid, milky, poison-
ous juice which turns black on exposure. The head is round and
narrow and the branches slender and rather pendulous ; often it is
simply a shrub. Small branches and young stems pithy.

Bark. — Smooth, light or dark gray, slightly striate. Branchlets are
smooth, reddish brown, covered with small, orange colored, lenticular
spots ; later they become orange brown and finally light gray.

Wood. — Light yellow with brown lines ; light, soft, coarse-grained,
brittle. Sp. gr., 0.4382 ; weight of cu. ft., 27.31 Ibs.

Winter Buds. — Terminal bud is much larger than the axillary
buds, all are acute, dark purple.

Leaves. — Alternate, pinnately compound,
seven to fourteen inches long, borne on slender
reddish petioles. Leaflets seven to thirteen,
obovate, or oblong, three to four inches long,
slightly unequal or contracted at the base, en-
tire, acute or rounded at apex, short petiolate
except the terminal one which sometimes has
a stalk an inch in length. They come out of
the bud orange colored and downy, when full
grown are smooth, dark green and shining
above, pale beneath ; midrib and primary
veins prominent. In autumn they turn scarlet
and orange.

Flowers.— June, July. Dioecious ; yellow
green, borne in long, narrow, axillary panicles
crowded near the ends of the branches. Bracts
and bractlets are acute, downy, and fall as the
flowers open.

Calyx. — Five-lobed, lobes acute, short.
Corolla. — Petals five, acute, yellow green.
Stamens.— Five, with long slender filaments
and large orange colored anthers. In the fer-
tile flowers short and rudimentary.

Pistil. — Ovary ovoid -globose, one -celled,
.surmounted by three thick spreading styles;
ovule solitary.

Fruit.— Drupaceous, globular, white, borne
in long graceful racemes, often tipped with the

dark remnants of the styles. Ripens in September and frequently
hangs on the tree the entire winter. Cotyledons flat, leaf-like.

Fruit of Poison Sumach,
Rhus vernix.

POISON SUMACH

Poison Sumach, Rbus veruix.

Leaves 7' to 14' long. Leaflets 3' to 4' long.

SUMACH FAMILY

The Poison Sumach is found throughout the northern
states and is one of the most dangerous plants of our flora.
However, it ought never to be mistaken for the other su-
machs although it often is. The leaves are shorter, the leaf-
lets fewer, margins are entire, the fruit white and about the
size of a small pea. All the other sumachs have red fruit.
It is found in wet soils, whereas the others like the dry. Its
poisonous principle is the same as that found in Rhus toxi-
codendron, or Poison Ivy, and while it affects many people who
handle it or are near to it, others are entirely immune. The
poison shows itself in painful and long continued swellings
and eruptions. The exact character of this poison is in dis-
pute. It has long been considered to be a volatile acid, but
recent investigations are leading to the belief that it is a fixed
oil.

LEGUMINOS.E— PEA FAMILY

LOCUST. ACACIA, YELLOW LOCUST. BLACK
LOCUST

Robinia pseudachcia.

Robinia commemorates the botanical labors of Jean Robin, her-
balist of Henry III. and director of the gardens of the Louvre
under Henry IV. and Louis XIII. His son Vespasian Robin
first cultivated the Locust tree in Europe. Pseudacacia, like
the acacia.

Often cultivated as an ornamental tree throughout the north, but
native from Pennsylvania to northern Georgia and westward as far
as Arkansas and Indian Territory. Reaches the height of seventy
feet with a trunk three or four feet in diameter, with brittle branches
that form'an oblong narrow head. Spreads by underground shoots.

Bark. — Dark gray brown tinged with red, deeply furrowed, sur-
face inclined to scale. Branchlets at first coated with white silvery
down. This soon disappears and they become pale green, afterward
reddish brown. Prickles develop from stipules, are short, some-
what triangular, dilated at base, sharp, dark purple, adhering only
to the bark, but persistent.

Wood. — Pale yellowish brown ; heavy, hard, strong, close-grained
and very durable in contact with the ground. Sp. gr., 0.7333 > weight
of cu. ft., 45.70 Ibs.

Winter Buds. — Minute, naked, three or four together, protected
in a depression by a scale-like covering lined on the inner surface
with a thick coat of tomentum and opening in early spring ; when
forming are covered by the swollen base of the petiole.

Leaves. — Alternate, compound, odd-pinnate, eight to fourteen
inches long, with slender hairy petioles, grooved and swollen at the
base. Leaflets petiolate, seven to nine, one to two inches long, one-
half to three-fourths of an inch broad, emarginate or rounded at

PEA FAMILY

apex. They come out of the bud conduplicate, yellow green, cov-
ered with silvery down which soon disappears ; when full grown are
dull dark green above, paler beneath. Feather-veined, midvein
prominent. In autumn they turn a clear pale yellow. Stipules
linear, downy, membranous at first, ultimately developing into
hard woody prickles, straight or slightly curved. Each leaflet has a
minute stipel which quickly falls and a short petiole.

Ffowers.—Ma.y, after the leaves. Papilionaceous. .Perfect, borne
in loose drooping racemes four to five inches long, cream-white,
about an inch long, nectar bearing, fragrant. Pedicels slender, half
an inch long, dark red or reddish green.

Calyx. — Campanulate, gibbous, hairy, five-toothed, slightly two-
lipped, dark green blotched with red, especially on the upper side ;
teeth valvate in bud.

Corolla. — Imperfectly papilionaceous, petals inserted upon a tu-
bular disk ; standard white with pale yellow blotch ; wings white,
oblong-falcate ; keel petals incurved, obtuse, united below.

Stamens. — Ten, inserted with the petals, diadelphous, nine infe-
rior, united into a tube which is cleft on the upper side, superior
one free at the base. Anthers two-celled, cells opening longitudi-
nally.

Pistil. — Ovary superior, linear-oblong, stipitate, one-celled ;
style inflexed. long, slender, bearded ; stigma capitate ; ovules
several, two-ranked.

Fruit. — Legume two-valved, smooth, three to four inches long
and half an inch broad, usually four to eight seeded. Ripens late
in autumn and hangs on the branches until early spring. Seeds
dark orange brown with irregular markings. Cotyledons oval, fleshy.

The value ofRobinia pseudacacia is practically destroyed in nearly all parts
of the United States beyond the mountain forests which are its home, by the
borers which riddle the trunk and branches. Were it not for these insects it
would be one of the most valuable timber-trees that could be planted in the
northern and middle states. The character of the timber which it produces, the
rapidity of its growth, its power to adapt itself to different soils and to repro-
duce itself rapidly by seeds which germinate readily, and by stump and root
shoots, would make it a most valuable tree if it could be protected from in-
sects. Young trees grow quickly and vigorously for a number of years, but
soon become stunted and diseased, and rarely live long enough to attain any
commercial value. —CHARLES S. SARGENT.

It is an interesting question why some trees grow so much
more rapidly than others, and the explanation seems to lie in
the character of the roots. Any tree whose principal roots
extend just beneath the surface grows rapidly because the
soil there is the richest ; but the cause which produces this

LOCUST

Locust, Robinia pseudacada.

Leaves 8' to 14' long. Leaflets i' to 2' long, y^ to i' broad.

PEA FAMILY

rapidity at first may retard the growth later ; for unless
these spreading roots are allowed ample space on every side
they soon exhaust the soil within
reach. On the other hand trees
whose roots penetrate deep as well
as wide grow more slowly and also
more steadily, and other things be-
ing equal attain the larger size.

A single Locust, given a free hand
and good soil, will soon produce a
thicket; for the roots creeping along
the upper layers of the soil send up
numerous shoots which quickly set
up in life for themselves. The fo-
liage effect of such a thicket is most
beautiful. The leaves are compound
with delicate, dark green leaflets.
New leaves are put forth until past
midsummer and these being a light
yellow green stand out against the
dark background of the older leaves,
giving the color effect of a mass of
soft velvety greens of varied values.
Then, too, the leaves respond to a light breeze so quickly,
the leaf surface is s^sitiooth, the leaf texture so fine, that
the tree is always clean even in dusty places.

Loudon reports that a plantation of locusts, Scotch pines,
sycamores, limes, chestnuts, beeches, ashes, and oaks was
made near Kensington, London, in 1812 and that the trees
were measured in 1827, when it was found that the locust had
grown faster than any one kind of the other trees in the
proportion of 27 to 22, and faster than the average of them
in the proportion of 27 to 18. But this was a case where
the race was not to the swift, for at the end of forty years
the locusts had been over-topped and ultimately they were
destroyed by the other trees.

All the beauty of the Locust comes when it is in leaf ; the

100

Raceme of Locust Blossoms,
l^obiiua pseudacacia.

LOCUST

Fruit of Locust, Robinia pseitdacacia.
Pod 3' to 4' long.

PEA FAMILY

leafless tree is not beautiful. The trunk is often twisted,
the branches are irregular and twiggy, easily broken, and so
give the tree an unkempt, ragged appearance. This is an
instance where the contour of the tree has nothing to do
with its beauty — the beauty lies in the color and disposition
of the foliage itself.

The young trees are armed with prickles, not thorns.
The difference between these lies in the point of attachment.
A prickle is part of the bark and will come off with it as do
the prickles of the rose, while a thorn is part of the woody
growth and belongs to the ligneous tissue.

The Locust begins in its third year to convert its sapwood
into heartwood, which is not done by the oak, the beech, or
the elm, until after the tenth or fifteenth year.

The leaflets fold together in wet weather, also at night ;
some change of position at night is the habit of the entire
leguminous family. This peculiarity of the tree led a child
to say, " It is not bed time, the locust tree has not begun its
prayer."

The name Locust is said to have been given to our Robi-
nia by the Jesuit missionaries, who fancied that this was the
tree that supported St. John in the wilderness. But it is
native only to North America. The locust tree of Spain,
which is also a native of Syria, is supposed to be the true
locust of the New Testament ; the fruit of this tree may be
found in the shops under the name of St. John's bread.

Robinia is now a North American genus — but traces of it
are found in the eocene and miocene rocks of Europe.

102

CLAMMY LOCUST

• Robinia viscbsa.

Usually a shrub five or six feet high, but known to reach the
height of forty feet in the mountains of North Carolina with the habit
of a tree. Commonly cultivated at the north for the beauty of its
flowers.

Bark. —Smooth, dark brown tinged with red. Branchlets dark
reddish brown covered with dark glandular hairs which exude a
clammy sticky substance ; later, these become bright red brown,
and sticky, finally they turn light brown and become dry.

jf^/._ Light brown ; heavy, hard, close-grained. Sp. gr., 0.8094 ;
weight of cu. ft., 50.44 Ibs.

Winter Buds.— Small, naked, in groups, sunk in the scars of the
fallen leaves, protected by a scale lined with tomentum ; do not
appear until spring.

Leaves. — Alternate, pinnately compound, seven to twelve inches
long ; petiole stout and dark, slightly enlarged at base. Leaflets
thirteen to twenty-one, oblong, an inch and a half to two inches
long, rounded or wedge-shaped at base, entire, rounded and mu-
cronate at apex. Feather-veined ; midrib and primary veins as well
as the secondary petioles covered with soft hairs. They come out of
the bud yellow green covered with soft, silky, white down, when full
grown are dark green, smooth above, pale green and downy
beneath. In autumn they turn a clear pale yellow. The stipules
are long, slender, sometimes fall, sometimes develop into slender
spines. Each leaflet has a minute stipel which quickly falls, and a
short petiole.

Flowers. — June. Perfect, pale rose colored, papilionaceous, borne
in crowded, oblong, clammy, hairy racemes, slightly fragrant. Pedi-
cels developed from the axils of dark red bracts, which extend be-
yond the flower buds and fall as the flowers open.

Calyx. — Campanulate, five-toothed, dark red, hairy, valvate in
bud.

Corolla. — Papilionaceous, rose or flesh colored, standard narrow
with a pale yellow blotch on the inner surface, wings broad. Petals
inserted on a tubular disk.

Stamens. — Ten, diadelphous, nine in one group, one alone. An-
thers two-celled; cells opening longitudinally.

Pistil.— Ovary superior, linear-oblong, stipitate, one-celled ;
style recurved; ovules several, two-ranked.

Fruit. — Legume, many seeded, about three inches long, narrow,
winged, glandular-hispid, tipped with the remnants of the style.
Seeds five to nine, dark reddish brown, mottled. Cotyledons oval,
fleshy.

103

PEA FAMILY

Robinia viscosa, which appears to be one of the rarest of all our trees, was
not seen growing wild in the forests of the southern Alleghany Mountains from
the time of Michaux until 1882, when it was rediscovered by Mr. John Donnell
Smith near Highlands, Macon County, North Carolina, covering a rocky slope
known as Buzzard ridge at an elevation of four thousand five hundred feet above
the sea-level, and growing as a shrub with stems only a few feet high. It has
not been seen in any other locality growing wild. Bartram and Michanx speak
of it as a tree forty feet high, and it often attains that height.

—CHARLES S. SARGENT.

The Clammy Locust has always been a popular garden
plant, because of its fine foliage and beautiful flowers. At
least three beautiful varieties of it have been produced. A
second crop of flowers often appears in August from shoots
developed early in the summer, on especially vigorous young
trees.

REDBUD. JUDAS-TREE

Carets canade'nsis.

Cercis is of Greek derivation and refers to a fancied resemblance in
the fruit to a weaver's implement of that name.

Small tree, with a sturdy upright trunk which divides into stout
branches that usually spread to form a broad flat head. Found on
rich bottom lands throughout the Mississippi valley ; will grow in
the shade and often becomes a dense undergrowth in the forest.
Very abundant in Arkansas, Indian Territory, and eastern Texas.
Hardy far north ; grows rapidly ; is a satisfactory ornamental tree.

Bark. — Red brown, with deep fissures and scaly surface, Branch-
lets at first lustrous brown, later become darker.

Wood. — Dark reddish brown ; heavy, hard, coarse-grained, not
strong. Sp. gr., 0.6363; weight of cu. ft., 39.65 Ibs.

Winter Buds. — Chestnut brown, obtuse, one-eighth inch long.

Leaves. — Alternate, simple, heart-shaped or broadly ovate, two to
five inches long, five to seven-nerved, cordate or truncate at base,
entire, acute. They. come out of the bud folded along the line of
the midrib, tawny green, when full grown become smooth, dark
green above, paler beneath. In autumn they turn bright clear yel-
low. Petioles slender, terete, enlarged at the base. Stipules ca-
ducous.

104

REDBUD

Flowering Branch of Redbud, Cerci's

PEA FAMILY

Flowers. — April, May, before and with the leaves, papilionaceous.
Perfect, rose color, borne four to eight together, in fascicles which
appear at the axils of the leaves or along the branch and sometimes
on the trunk itself.

Calyx. — Dark red, campanulate, oblique, five-toothed, imbricate
in bud.

Corolla. — Papilionaceous, petals five, nearly equal, pink or rose
color, upper petal the smallest, enclosed in the bud by the wings,
and encircled by the broader keel petals.

Stamens. — Ten, inserted in two rows on a thin disk, free, the inner
row rather shorter than the others.

Pistil. — Ovary superior, inserted obliquely in the bottom of the
calyx tube, stipitate ; style fleshy, incurved, tipped with an obtuse
stigma.

Fruit. — Legume, slightly stipitate, unequally oblong, acute at
each end. Compressed, tipped with the remnants of the style,
straight on upper and curved on lower edge. Two and a half to
three inches long, rose color, full grown by midsummer, falls in
early winter. Seeds ten to twelve, chestnut brown, one-fourth of an
inch long ; cotyledons oval, flat.

A tree as large as an apple tree and having something of
the same habit, covered with tiny rose colored pea-like blos-
soms from the crown of its leafless head to its trunk, is an
astonishing sight even to one accustomed to observe the
wonders of vegetable life. Such is the Redbud, a low tree
with a flat spreading head, growing from Canada to Virginia
in the low lands, and dividing the honors of early spring with
the Shad Bush and the Dogwood. These flowers which ap-
pear before the leaves, are small, borne in clusters along the
branch except at the very end and sometimes on the trunk
itself.

The normal place for flowers to appear is in the axils of
the leaves, and when bright, beautiful, rosy blossoms break
forth from the bark of old branches or from the very trunk,
the fact requires explanation. Many have been offered and
the one accepted is that they are produced year after year
from excrescences-which correspond to the axils of ancient
leaves and are composed of the remnants of the axes of ear-
lier inflorescences which have gradually united and formed a
more or less prominent mass. Whatever the explanation

106 ,

REDBUD

Redbud, Cercis canademis.
Leaves 2' to 5' long.

PEA FAMILY

may be, the fact remains that such blossoms may and do an-
nually appear on this tree. These pretty blossoms have a
very pleasant acid taste and are succeeded by flat, many-
seeded pods that reach full size in May, when they become
bright rose color, finally becoming brown ; they hang upon
the tree until early winter. Many trees, however, are sterile,
the blossoms falling without producing any fruit.

The leaves come out from the bud carefully doubled at the
line of the midrib and bent upon the petiole. They are five
to seven-nerved, that is, instead of the midrib being the prin-
cipal line of the woody structure of the leaf, there come out
at the base five or six ribs almost as large as the central or
midrib. This kind of venation always makes a leaf broad
at the base. Sometimes these primary ribs extend away from
the apex, then the leaf is very likely to be lobed as are the
maples, but in the Redbud the points curve toward the apex
and the result is an entire, heart-shaped leaf.

Why should this beautiful creature be called Judas-tree ?
Our native tree is very like the species which is common in
Europe, in Japan, in Asiatic Turkey and especially in Judea.
In the days when legends gathered about whatever was un-
usual in nature, this tree glowing red in the spring time was
said to blush because Judas hanged himself upon it. The
old world name has crossed the ocean and our pretty Red-
bud, blooming in the heart of a continent unknown to that
ancient world, bears in every book the blistering name of
Judas-tree.

The type is ancient and the genus has existed in Europe
almost as at present from the eocene period. A white va-
riety is recorded but has not become common.

108

KENTUCKY COFFEE-TREE

KENTUCKY COFFEE-TREE. STUMP-TREE

GymnScladus dibicus.

•• t - • •

Gymnocladus is of Greek derivation and refers to the stout
branches destitute of spray.

Widely distributed, but rare. Not found in New England, but
ranging from New York to Arkansas and Indian Territory. Prefers
bottom lands, and a rich moist soil. Varies from seventy-five to
one hundred feet high with a trunk two or three feet in diameter
which usually separates ten or fifteen feet from the ground into three
or four divisions which spread slightly and form a narrow pyramidal
head ; or when crowded by other trees, sending up one tall central
branchless shaft to the height of fifty or seventy feet. Branches
stout, pithy, and blunt ; roots fibrous.

Bark. — Dark gray, deeply fissured, surface scaly. Branchlets at
first coated with short reddish down.

Wood. — Light brown ; heavy, strong, coarse-grained, durable in
contact with the ground, takes a fine polish. Sp. gr., 0.6934; weight
of cu. ft., 43.21 Ibs.

Winter Buds, — Minute, depressed in downy cavities of the stem,
two in the axil of each leaf, the smaller sterile. Bud scales two,
ovate, coated with brown tomentum and growing with the shoot, be-
come orange green, hairy and about one inch long, before they fall.

Leaves. — Alternate, bi-pinnately compound, ten to fourteen pin-
nate, lowest pinnae reduced to leaflets, the others seven to thirteen
foliate. One to three feet long, eighteen to twenty-four inches broad,
by the greater development of the upper pairs of pinnae. Leaf stalks
and stalks of pinnae, are terete, enlarged at base, smooth when ma-
ture, pale green, often purple on the upper side. Leaflets ovate,
two to two and one-half inches long, wedge-shaped or irregularly
rounded at base, with wavy margin, acute apex. They come out of
the bud bright pink, but soon become bronze green, smooth and
shining above. When full grown are dark yellow green above, pale
green beneath. In autumn turn a bright clear yellow. Stipules
leaf-life, lanceolate, serrate, deciduous.

Flowers. — June. Dioecious by abortion, terminal, greenish white.
Staminate flowers in a short raceme-like corymb three to four
inches long , pistillate flowers in a raceme ten to twelve inches long.

Calyx. — Tubular, hairy, ten-ribbed, five-lobed ; lobes valvate in
bud, acute, nearly equal.

Corolla. — Petals five, oblong, hairy, spreading or reflexed, imbri-
cate in bud.

109

PEA FAMILY

Stamens. — Ten, five long and five short, free, included ; filaments
thread-like ; anthers orange colored, introrse ; in the pistillate flower
small and sterile.

Pistil. — Ovary superior, sessile, hairy, contracted into a short style,
with two stigmatic lobes ; ovules in two rows.

Fruit. — Legume, six to ten inches long, one and one-half to two
inches wide, somewhat curved, with thickened margins, dark reddish
brown with slight glaucous bloom, crowned with remnant of the
styles. Stalks an inch or two long. Seeds six to nine, surrounded
by a thick layer of dark, sweet pulp.

When Kentucky was first settled by the adventurous pioneers from the Atlan-
tic states who commenced their career in the primeval wilderness, almost with-
out the necessaries of life, except as they produced them from the fertile soil,
they fancied that they had discovered a substitute for coffee in the seeds of this
tree ; and accordingly the name of Coffee-tree was bestowed upon it. But when
communication was established with the sea-ports, they gladly relinquished their
Kentucky beverage for the more grateful flavor of the Indian berry ; and no use
is at present made of it in that manner. —A. J. DOWNING.

This is another of the solitary trees of our flora. It grows
north as far as Montreal and south to the limits of Arkansas,

nevertheless one may be
a student of forest trees
many years ere one finds
the Kentucky Coffee-tree
growing on its native
hills. In pleasure
grounds it is not uncom-
mon, since it is often
planted because of its

Pistillate and Stan.in.te Flowers c ^^ appearance and

interesting character.

Like the Sumach it is wholly destitute of fine spray, its
smaller branches are thick, blunt, clumsy and lumpish.
Other trees lose their leaves but along their twigs and
branchlets are borne the buds, the hope and the promise of
the coming year. -But the Gymnodadus seems so destitute of
these, that the French in Canada named it Chicot, the dead
tree. Even when spring comes it gives no apparent recog-
nition of light and warmth until nearly every other tree is

KENTUCKY COFFEE-TREE

Kentucky Coffee-tree, Gymnocladus dioicus.

Leaves i° to 3° long. Leaflets 2' to 2%' long.

PEA FAMILY

in full leaf. The casual observer says it bears no winter
buds, but he is mistaken, a tiny pair, so minute that they
are detected only by careful searching, wrapped in down and
wool, lie sleeping in the axil of every last year's leaf. One
is foredoomed to die, but the other, if the fates agree, will
grow and develop a tuft of great leaves which .will transform
the dead stump into a living tree.

The leaves of the Kentucky Coffee-tree are doubly com-
pound and are often three feet long and two feet broad.
This form of leaf is not unusual among herbs, but is rare
among forest trees. In our northern flora there are but
three examples, the Kentucky Coffee-tree, the Honey Locust,
and the Hercules' Club. Notwithstanding the size of the
leaves the tree is sparingly clothed and the foliage effect is
scanty ; indeed, it has been said of it that the leaves filter the
light rather than cast a shadow. The expanding leaves are
conspicuous because of the varied colors of the leaflets ; the
youngest are bright pink, while those which are older vary
from green to bronze.

HONEY LOCUST. HONEY SHUCKS

Gleditsia triacdnthos.

Gleditsia commemorates the labors of Gleditsch, a botanist con-
temporary with Linnaeus.

A tree usually fifty to seventy-five feet high, with stout sturdy
trunk, slender spreading often pendulous branches forming a broad
flat top. Native to the Mississippi valley, it has become naturalized
in New England. Is tolerant of many soils, but in the bottom lands
of southern Indiana and Illinois attains the astonishing proportions of
one hundred and forty feet in height with a trunk six feet in diameter.
Roots thick and fibrous, trunk and branches spiny.

Bark. — Dark, deeply fissured, surface covered by small scales.
Branchlets light reddish brown at first, later grayish brown.

Wood. — Red brown ; hard, strong, coarse-grained, durable in con-
tact with the ground. Sp. gr., 0.6740 ; weight of cu. ft., 42.00 Ibs.

112

HONEY LOCUST

Honey Locust, Gleditsia triacanthos.

Leaves 7' to 8' long. Leaflets \l/zf to 2' long.

PEA FAMILY

Winter Buds. — Minute, three or four together, upper one larger
than the others. Spine bud minute, above the axil of the leaf and
embedded in the bark.

Leaves. — Alternate, pinnately or bi-pinnately compound, seven
to eight inches long, main stem grooved, enlarged at the base, eigh-
teen to twenty foliate ; sometimes bi-pinnate with four to seven pairs
of pinnae, upper pair often four or five inches long, lowest often
single leaflets. Leaflets lanceolate-oblong, one and one-half to
two inches long, rather unequal at base, crenulate-serrate, slightly
rounded at apex. They come out of the bud reddish, when full
grown are dark green and shining on upper surface, dull yellow
green beneath. In autumn they turn a clear pale yellow.

Flowers. — May, June. Polygamo-dicecious, regular, small, green-
ish. Staminate flowers in short, many-flowered racemes, two to two
and one-half inches long. Pistillate in slender, few-flowered, solitary
racemes, two and one-half to three inches long.

Calyx. — Campanulate, five-lobed, hairy.

Corolla. — Petals five, greenish, imbricate in bud.

Stamens. — Five, hairy, exserted ; filaments slender, anthers green.

Pistil. — Ovary superior, stipitate, one-celled, woolly ; style short ;
stigma dilated, rudimentary in the staminate flower ; ovules sev-
eral.

Fruit. — Legumes, twelve to eighteen inches long, dark brown,
slightly curved, borne in short racemes, walls thin and tough, inner
coat papery, contain quantity of sweet pulp between the seeds. In
drying they twist, fall in early winter. Seeds twelve to fourteen,
oval, flattened.

The foliage of the Honey Locust is that of the common
Locust etherealized. There are the same varied values in its
greens, the same velvety effects in the mass, but the effect
as a whole is lighter, more delicate, more beautiful, for the
leaves are doubly pinnate instead of singly pinnate, the leaf-
lets are smaller and the tree itself not being subject to at-
tacks of insects oftener attains its normal proportions.

The most striking peculiarity of the Honey Locust is its
thorns, and these thorns are of a very aggressive type. Many
trees are literally covered, trunk and branches, with spines
from two to six inches long, sometimes in clusters, often three
pronged or compound, very sharp and rigid, making a most
formidable defence against the attacks of man or beast. The
origin of spines or prickles is always interesting. The thorns

114

HONEY LOCUST

of Robinia pseudacacia, the common Locust, are developed
from the most innocent-looking stipules, and always remain
attached to the bark. But the spines of the Honey Locust
have their origin in a spine bud which forms usually an inch
above the axil of the leaf in which the normal buds are
formed. These buds also form on the trunk or, formed
when the stem was young, remain dormant on the trunk un-
til stimulated into life by some means, when they push
through the thick bark and develop as spines. They are in
fact undeveloped branches, branches that have failed of their
normal growth of leaf and bud and flower and have become
simply spines, aggressive, offensive, maybe defensive spines.

All deciduous trees produce upon occasion or hold in reserve
adventitious buds. The sprouts that force their way through
the thick bark of stumps after the trunk has been cut down
are produced by adventitious buds, long dormant but now
stimulated to unusual growth. The waving twigs that
feather the trunk of many an elm tree have the same genesis.

The Honey Locust frequently becomes a picturesque tree,
the trunk becomes twisted and the branches extend horizon-
tally. The leaves appear late in the spring and fall early in
autumn, which is always an objection to an ornamental
tree. Unlike the Locust its flowers are inconspicuous.
The long, flat, pendulous pods, hang in clusters from the
branches, and the sweet pulp that surrounds the seed gives
the tree its common name. These pods contract in drying
and so twist and curl that they are easily rolled by the wind
some distance from the parent tree. Nature, like a careful
mother, has many devices to aid her children, and when she
does not give her seeds wings to soar with the wind, or
prickles to cling to the passer-by, she sometimes provides in
the seed vessel a means by which at least it may roll itself
into a home of its own.

The Honey Locust has many qualities to recommend it as
an ornamental tree. It grows rapidly, is tolerant of many
soils, is hardy and very free from insects' attacks. It can
flourish under the adverse conditions of city life and is often

PEA FAMILY

planted in the western states along country roads. It has
alsol)een used most successfully as a hedge plant.

The genus Gleditsia is found in America, Africa, and Asia
but not at present in Europe, although in the tertiary period
it existed there.

YELLOW-WOOD. VIRGILIA

Cladrdstis lutea

Rarest of the trees of eastern North America. Found principally
on the limestone cliffs of Kentucky, Tennessee and North Carolina,
but is hardy at the north and rather extensively cultivated. It
likes a rich moist soil, attains the height of fifty feet, the trunk is very
apt to divide into two or three stems, which with slender, wide
spreading, pendulous branches form a graceful head. Roots fibrous,
branches brittle.

Bark. — Smooth gray, or light brown. Branchlets at first downy,
but soon become smooth, light brownish green ; later red brown,
finally dark brown.

Wood. — Yellow to pale brown ; heavy, hard, close-grained and
strong. Sp. gr., 0.6278 : weight of cu. ft., 39.12 Ibs.

Winter Buds. — Four in a group, making a tiny cone and inclosed
in the hollow base of the petiole.

Leaves. — Alternate, pinnately compound, eight to twelve inches
long, main stem stout, enlarged at base. Leaflets seven to eleven,
broadly oval, three to four inches long. Wedge-shaped at base,
entire, acute, terminal leaflets rhomboid-ovate. Feather-veined,
midrib and primary veins prominent, grooved above, light yellow
beneath. They come out of the bud pale green, downy ; when full
grown are dark green above, pale beneath. In autumn they turn a
bright clear yellow.

Flowers. — June. Perfect, papilionaceous, white, borne in droop-
ing terminal panicles twelve to fourteen inches long, five to six
inches broad, slightly fragrant.

Calyx. — Campanulate, five-lobed, enlarged on the upper side.

Corolla. — Papilionaceous ; standard broad, white, marked on the
inner surface with a pale yellow blotch ; wings oblong ; keel petals
free.

Stamens. — Ten, free ; filaments thread-like.

116

YELLOW-WOOD

Yellow-wood, Cladastris lutea.

Leaves 8' to 12' long. Leaflets 3' to 4' long.

PEA FAMILY

Pistil. — Ovary superior, linear, bright red, hairy, bearing a long
incurved style.

Fruit. — Legume, smooth, linear-compressed, tipped with the rem-
nants of the styles. Seeds four to six, dark brown.

Yellow-wood is recommended as really one of the best
medium sized trees for cultivation. The only objection that
is mentioned is a tendency of the trunk to divide very near
the ground. The autumnal coloring of the leaves is a par-
ticularly clear bright yellow.

118

ROSACES— ROSE FAMILY

CANADA PLUM. RED PLUM

Primus mgra

A small tree twenty feet in height, dividing five or six feet from
the ground into a number of stout upright branches which form a
rigid head. Prefers alluvial soil. Ranges from Newfoundland
through the St. Lawrence valley to Manitoba. By cultivation is
naturalized in parts of Michigan, northern New England and north-
ern New York.

Bark. — Gray brown, outer layer comes off in thick plates. Branch-
lets are bright green at first, later become dark brown tinged with
red.

Wood. — Bright red brown ; heavy, hard, strong and close-grained.
Sp. gr., 0.6918 ; weight of cu. ft., 43.17.

Winter Buds. — Chestnut brown, acuminate, one-eighth to one-
fourth of an inch long. Scales of flower buds grow with the expand-
ing flowers and become pale green tinged with pink.

Leaves. — Alternate, simple, oblong-ovate or obovate, three to five
inches long, one and a half to three inches broad, wedge-shaped or
slightly heart-shaped or rounded at base, doubly crenulate-serrate,
abruptly contracted to a narrow point at the apex, feather-veined,
midrib conspicuous. They come out of the bud convolute, downy,
slightly tinged with red, when full grown are smooth, bright green
above, paler beneath. Petioles stout, bearing two large dark glands.
Stipules lanceolate or three to five-lobed, early deciduous.

Flowers. — May, before the leaves. Perfect, white, slightly fra-
grant, borne in three to four-flowered umbels, with short thick pe-
duncles. The pedicels of the blossoms are slender and dark red.

Calyx. — Conic, dark red, five-lobed ; lobes acute, finally reflexed,
glandular, smooth on the inner surface, imbricate in bud.

Corolla. — Petals five, inserted on the calyx tube, white, turning
pink in fading, margin more or less erose, ovate, rounded, with
short claws, imbricate in bud.

IIQ

ROSE FAMILY

Stamens. — Fifteen to twenty, inserted on the calyx tube ; filaments
thread-like ; anthers purplish, introrse, two-celled ; cells opening
longitudinally.

Pistil. — Ovary one, superior, in the bottom of calyx tube, one-
celled ; ovules two.

Fruit. — Drupe, oblong-oval, an inch to an inch and a quarter
long with a tough, thick, orange red skin, free from bloom, yellow
flesh adherent to the stone. Stone oval, compressed. August, Sep-
tember. Cotyledons thick and fleshy.

The Canada Plum is a northern tree, which is distributed
through the valley of the St. Lawrence and westward as far
as Lake Manitoba ; its range extends southward into New
England, New York, and the north-western states. It is
found in the neighborhood of streams in rich alluvial soil
and along the borders of the forest.

The tree is small and its branches are very stiff and rigid.
They have a fashion in their second year of putting out
branchlets which are spines, to all intents and purposes,
though they become leafy.

Whoever played when a child under a wild plum tree will
always remember the " hollow green plums " that frequently
hung on the branches or were scattered over the ground in
May. They were of full size, pale green, leathery to the
touch and hollow, with the exception of a few fibrous bands.
They were, indeed, a puzzle to childish eyes, but later we
learned that they are caused by a fungus and that they are
called plum pockets. This disease also attacks cultivated
plums ; the young ovaries, just after the fruit sets, swell,
often reach the size of full grown plums, become hollow and
soon fall to the ground.

The fruit of the Canada Plum is sold in large quantities in
the markets of Canada and the northern states ; it is eaten
raw or cooked and is made into preserves and jellies.

The Prunus americana, or Wild Plum, is a southern rather
than a northern tree. Beginning from middle New Jer-
sey and central New York its range extends westward to
the foot-hills of the Rockies and southward to the mountains
of Mexico. It has been very generally confounded with /*.

120

CANADA PLUM

Fruiting" Spray of Canada Plum, Primus nigra.

Leaves 3' to 5' long, \%' to 3' broad.

ROSE FAMILY

nigra or Canada Plum. The fruit is smaller, rounder than
that of the Canada Plum and bright red in color. Many cul-
tivated varieties have been derived from this species, as it
quickly responds to the gardener's care ; it also forms an ex-
cellent stock upon which to graft the domestic plum.

Professor Sargent says of this tree, " As an ornamental
plant P. americana has real value ; the long wand-like
branches form a wide, graceful head which is handsome in
winter and in spring is covered with masses of pure white
flowers followed by ample bright foliage and abundant showy
fruit."

Exudations of gum from the bark of plum and cherry trees
area very common sight. This is generally known as Cherry
gum and is a characteristic of the Prunus genus. As it first
appears it is liquid and colorless, but with exposure to the
air it hardens and becomes dark. When dry it is brittle, with
an insipid, sweet or astringent flavor.

The wild plums have been found to be the hosts of the
Hop-aphis which is so destructive to the hops just at the time
of their maturity and as a consequence it has been recom-
mended that all plum trees in the vicinity of hop fields should
be cut down.

WILD RED CHERRY. BIRD CHERRY
Prunus pennsytvdnica.

A rapid-growing short-lived tree with bitter aromatic bark and
leaves, thirty to forty feet in height, regular slender branches which
form a narrow head more or less rounded at the summit ; often in
the north a shrub only. Roots fibrous. Common throughout the
northern states ; prefers a rich moist soil ; reaches its greatest size
on the mountains of Tennessee and often occupies large areas after
they have been cleared by fire of their original forests. Will grow
in exposed locations.

Bark. — Dark, red brown, conspicuously marked with lenticels,
smooth and polished on young stems and branches, but on older
trunks separates horizontally into broad papery plates. Branchlets

WILD RED CHERRY

Fruiting Branch of Wild Red Cherry, Primus pennsyhant'ca.

Leaves 3' to 5' long. Cherries y^' in diameter.

ROSE FAMILY

light red and lustrous, finally red brown. They develop in their
second year spur-like branchlets.

Wood. — Light brown, sapwood pale yellow ; light, soft, close-
grained. Sp. gr., 0.5023 ; weight of cu. ft., 31.30 Ibs.

Winter Buds. — Brown, small, acute, often aggregated.

Leaves. — Alternate or in pairs, simple, oblong-lanceolate, three to
five inches long, three-quarters of an inch to an inch broad, wedge-
shaped or rounded at base, serrate, acute or acuminate. Feather
veined. They come out of the bud conduplicate and bronze green ;
when full grown are bright lustrous green above, paler beneath. In
autumn they turn a bright yellow. Petioles slender, grooved, smooth
or hairy, often glandular above the middle. Stipules acuminate,
serrate and early deciduous.

Flowers. — May, when leaves are half grown. Perfect, white, one-
half inch across, borne on slender pedicels in four or five-flowered
umbels, generally clustered, two or three together.

Calyx. — Campanulate, smooth, five-lobed ; lobes obtuse, tipped
with red, finally reflexed, imbricate in bud.

Corolla. — Petals five, cream-white, one-fourth of an inch long,
nearly orbicular, with short claws, inserted on the calyx tube.

Stamens. — Fifteen to twenty, inserted on calyx cup ; filaments
thread-like, smooth; anthers introrse, two-celled ; cells opening lon-
gitudinally.

Pistil — Ovary one, superior, set in the calyx cup, smooth, one-
celled ; style filiform ; stigma capitate ; ovules two.

Fruit. — Drupe, globular, one-fourth of an inch in diameter, tipped
with remnants of the style, light red with thin skin and sour flesh.
July. Stone oblong ; cotyledons thick and fleshy.

The ease with which the seeds of Primus pennsylvanica are disseminated
by birds and mountain streams, their vitality and power of germination in soil
where the upper layers of humus have been destroyed by fire, and the rapid
growth of the young plants, which soon form a covering for longer-lived trees,
constitute the chief value and interest of this plant, which in the northern part
of the country east of the mid-continental plateau, has played an important
part in the reproduction and preservation of the forests.

— Garden and Forest.

The range of the Wild Red Cherry is northern, it rarely
goes south and then only by way of the mountain tops. In
its best estate the tree is fifty feet high, but ordinarily it is
much smaller and it often constitutes the bulk of the un-
dergrowth of a forest. It bears the reddish brown, shining
bark characteristic of all the cherries, which peels off in hor-
izontal strips which is also a characteristic of the cherries.

124

CHOKE CHERRY

It loves ravines and rocky woods, will grow and flourish
directly on the southern shore of Lake Erie, taking " Free-
dom's northern wind " all winter without the slightest detri-
ment to its well-being.

It blooms profusely in early spring before the leaves are
very much in evidence ; the tiny white blossoms are borne
in clusters of five to eight-flowered umbels, and fairly cover
the tree.

The shining green leaves are thickly set upon the spray
making a denser foliage than that of the Black Cherry, and by
the middle of July all the branches of a fruiting tree are so
covered with clusters of berries as to make it as a whole look
red. They do not remain long, however, for the birds love
them, sour as they are, and carry them away in a few days.

When midsummer comes the leaves frequently take the
poise of the peach leaf, curving in at the edges and drooping
curved from the branch.

CHOKE CHERRY, WILD CHERRY

Prunus virginictna.

A shrub throughout the north, only becoming a tree in the south-
western part of the United States.

Bark. — Dark brown, slightly fissured. Branchlets at first light
brown or reddish green, later they become darker brown tinged with
red, and finally dark brown ; outer layer of bark separates easily in
horizontal bands from the inner. Inner bark has a disagreeable
odor.

Wood. — Light brown ; heavy, hard, close-grained. Sp. gr. , 0.695 1 ;
weight of cu. ft., 43.32 Ibs.

Winter Buds. — Chestnut brown, acute or obtuse. Inner scales
enlarge when spring growth begins, and often become an inch long.

Leaves. — Alternate, oval, two to four inches long, one to two
inches broad, wedge-shaped, or rounded at base, serrate, acuminate.
Feather-veined. They come out of the bud conduplicate, pale,
hairy ; when full grown are bright green above, paler beneath. In
autumn they turn yellow. Petioles grooved, slender, two glands
near the apex, sometimes many-glandular. Stipules lanceolate,
acute, serrate, early deciduous.

125

ROSE FAMILY

Flowers.— May, after the leaves. Perfect, white, borne in a many
flowered raceme, three to six inches long, one-half to one-third of
an inch in diameter.

Calyx. — Cup-shaped, five-lobed ; lobes, short, obtuse, reflexed,
deciduous.

Corolla.— Petals five, white, orbicular, with short claws, inserted
on the calyx tube, imbricate in bud.

Stamens. — Fifteen to twenty, inserted on calyx tube ; style short,
thick ; stigma broad.

Pistil. — Ovary one, superior, at the base of the calyx tube ; ovules
two.

Fruit.— Drupe, globular, dark red, or nearly black, or yellow, with
shining skin, dark red flesh. In taste astringent, though there is
much difference in the product of different bushes. Stone oblong-
ovate ; cotyledons thick and fleshy.

The Cherrie trees yeeld great store of cherries which grow on clusters like
grapes ; they be much smaller than our English Cherrie, nothing neare so good
if they be not very ripe ; they so furred the mouth that the tongue will cleave to
the roofe, and the throate was horse with swallowing those red Bullies (as I may
call them), being little better in taste. English ordering may bring them to be
an English Cherrie, but yet they are as wilde as the Indians.

— WOOD. " New England's Prospects."

Our early writer seems to have learned all there is to
know about Choke Cherries, and every one whose childhood
was spent in New England or the middle states has had a
similar experience. Such an one would never think of the
Choke Cherry as a tree. To him it is always a bush, a bush
of varying height growing by creek and river side, in fence
corners, at the edge of thickets, and bearing long clusters of
berries of different degrees of harshness and astringency.
But in that wonderful region round about Nebraska, north-
ern Texas and Indian Territory where every vegetable creat-
ure with the slightest aspirations toward treehood seems
able to gratify them, our humble Choke Cherry stretches its
stem, lengthens its branches and becomes a tree. There is,
however, no record that by growing larger it has grown
better, the fruit is -still harsh and astringent, loved, indeed,
by the birds, but forsaken by the children when they can
get anything better. It is recorded, that in the early days
the Indians of the north and west and central part of the

126

CHOKE CHERRY

Fruiting Spray of Choke Cherry, Prunus virginiana.

Leaves 2' to 4' long, i' to 2f broad.

ROSE FAMILY

continent prized it highly, and that it. was to them an im-
portant article of food.

However, the Choke Cherry has recently come into ex-
tensive cultivation on the clay flats bordering the Richelieu
and St. Lawrence Rivers in the province of Quebec. It is
cultivated mostly in tree form and the fruit varies greatly,
not only in size and color but also in degree of astringency.

Professor Sargent says : " This is the most widely dis-
tributed North American tree. It is found within the arctic
circle, ranging across the continent from the Atlantic to the
Pacific, it extends southward until it reaches the Gulf states
and northern Mexico."

All our wild cherries and plums carry with them a menace
to the health and well-being of cultivated cherries and plums.
For all are subject to a disease native to this continent, known
as Black Knot. This warty excrescence was formerly sup-
posed to be caused by insects, but it is now known to be the
result of a fungus which attacks the tree and the disease
easily passes from the native to the cultivated species. In
many districts it is now impossible to grow cherries and
plums because of it. The Choke Cherry is especially sub-
ject to its attack, and this makes the tree a dangerous neigh-
bor to orchards of cultivated fruit.

BLACK CHERRY

Prunns serotina

A tree with a stout sturdy trunk, spreading branches and round
head, sometimes a narrow oblong head. Usually forty to fifty feet
high, but on the slopes of the southern Alleghanies reaches the height
of one hundred feet. Prefers a rich moist soil, but will grow on light
sandy soil, and will also endure the winds of the sea-shore. Grows
rapidly. Widely distributed by the birds.

Bark. — On old trunks blackish and rough, broken into small irreg-
ular roundish plates ; on young trunks and large limbs smooth and
shining, red brown marked with scattered lines and sometimes sepa-
rating into horizontal bands which curl at the edges. Branchlets

128

BLACK CHERRY

Fruiting Branch of Black Cherry, Prunm serotina.

Leaves 2' to 5' long. Cherries y$' to %' in diameter.

ROSE FAMILY

pale green or reddish green and smooth, lenticular, later reddish
brown, finally become red brown or gray brown. Inner bark has a
pleasant and aromatic odor, bitter and aromatic to the taste.

Wood. — Light brown or red, darkening with exposure ; light,
strong, close-grained, susceptible of a fine polish. Of great value
in cabinet work and interior finish of houses, now becoming scarce.
Sp. gr., 0.5822 ; weight of cu. ft., 36.28 Ibs.

Winter Buds. — Chestnut brown, obtuse, one-half to two-thirds of
an inch long. When spring growth begins the inner scales enlarge
and become one-half to two-thirds of an inch in length.

Leaves. — Alternate, simple, oblong to lanceolate-oblong, two to
five inches long, an inch to an inch and a half broad, wedge-shaped
or rounded at base, serrate, edges often crinkled, gradually acumi-
nate or rarely rounded at apex. Feather-veined, midrib grooved
above, prominent beneath, primary veins slender. They come out
of the bud conduplicate, reddish green ; when full grown are deep
shining green above, paler beneath ; in autumn they turn a clear
bright yellow. Petioles slender, terete, often marked with dark red
glands. Stipules caducous.

Flowers. — May, June, when leaves are half grown. Perfect, white,
about one-fourth of an inch across, borne in narrow, many-flowered
racemes three to four inches long.

Calyx. — Cup-shaped tube, five-lobed, lobes obtuse, reflexed, per-
sistent, imbricate in bud.

Corolla. — Petals five, white, obovate, inserted on the calyx tube,
imbricate in bud.

Stamens. — Fifteen to twenty, inserted on the calyx tube with the
petals ; filaments thread-like ; anthers introrse, two-celled ; cells
opening longitudinally.

Pistil. — Ovary superior, one, set in the bottom of the calyx tube ;
stigma thick, club-shaped.

Fruit. — Drupe, depressed-globular, one-third to one-half inch in
diameter, shining black skin, dark purple juicy flesh. Calyx lobes
persistent on the fruit. August, September. Stone oblong-ovate ;
cotyledons thick and fleshy.

Wild cherry, they grow in clusters like grapes, of the same bigness, blackish
red when ripe, and of a harsh taste.

— JOSSELYN. " New England Rarities."

Prunus serotina is very generally known because of its cher-
ries. These cherries are flattened juicy globes the size of
large peas, with a shining black skin and dark purple flesh ;
borne in a somewhat straggling raceme. When ripe they are
slightly bitter with a pleasant vinous flavor and from the
standpoint of one who ate them in childhood delicious. When

130

BLACK CHERRY

Trunk of Black Cherry, Primus seroliiia.

ROSE FAMILY

macerated and soaked in rum or brandy they give to the
liquor a peculiar and agreeable flavor, making what is known
as Cherry Bounce. This flavor is due to a principle called
amygdaiin, found also in laurel leaves, bitter almonds, peach
and plum stones, which under the action of a ferment breaks
up into grape sugar, oil of bitter almonds, and hydrocyanic
or prussic acid. This active principle exists in very many of
the Rosacea, notably in Prunus caroliniana, a southern ever-
green species which is extensively used in the south as a
hedge plant. It is there against the law to throw the prim-
ings of this plant into the street or where they may be eaten
by cattle. Birds in fact have been known to be overcome by
a too greedy consumption of black cherries.

The bark of the Black Cherry is bitter and aromatic and
held a large place among the home remedies of an earlier
generation.

The flowers are small, closely set by short stems in a sim-
ple raceme. The central axis is erect or curved upward in
flowering, which begins at the bottom ; afterward it bends
with the weight of the fruit. Only a small proportion of the
flowers produce fruit.

The tree is large and sturdy with a spreading handsome
head, and may be easily known by its smooth, shining, red-
dish brown branches, for only the trunk becomes rough, and
in young trees that is smooth. The spray is slender and
pendulous. The smooth shining leaves are set alternately
and rather close together, and often in midsummer heat they
assume the poise of the ash and at a distance when only part
of the tree can be seen it may easily be mistaken for an ash.

The Black Cherry grows very rapidly, often adding an inch
a year to its diameter. The wood is firm, close-grained, of a
light red, darkening with age. It takes a fine polish and
when perfectly seasoned will not shrink or warp, and is much
used in the manufacture of furniture.

132

CRAB APPLE

CRAB APPLE. FRAGRANT CRAB

Pyrus coronaria

Pyrtts is the classical name of the pear tree, which was adopted
by Linnaeus for this genus.

Often a bushy shrub with rigid, contorted branches but frequently
becomes a small tree with a broad open head. Prefers rich moist
soil ; is most abundant in the middle and western states, reaches its
greatest size in the valleys of the lower Ohio basin.

Bark. — Reddish brown, longitudinally fissured, with surface sepa-
rating in narrow scales. Branchlets at first coated with thick white
tomentum, later they become smooth reddish brown ; they develop
in their second year long, spur-like branches and sometimes absolute
thorns an inch or more in length.

Wood. — Reddish brown, sapwood yellow; heavy, close-grained,
not strong. Used for the handles of tools and small domestic arti-
cles. Sp. gr., 0.7048 ; weight of cu. ft., 43.92.

Winter Buds. — Bright red, obtuse, minute. Inner scales grow
with the growing shoot, become half an inch long and bright red
before they fall.

Leaves. — Alternate, simple, ovate, three to four inches long, one
and one-half to two inches broad, obtuse, subcordate or acute at
base, incisely serrate, often three-lobed on vigorous shoots, acute at
apex. Feather-veined, midrib and primary veins grooved above,
prominent beneath. They come out of the bud involute, red bronze,
tomentose and downy ; when full grown are bright dark green above,
paler beneath. In autumn they turn yellow. Petioles slender, long,
often with two dark glands near the middle. Stipules filiform, half
an inch long, early deciduous.

Flowers.— May, June, when leaves are nearly grown. Perfect, rose-
colored, fragrant, one and one-half inch to two inches across. Borne
in five or six-flowered umbels on slender pedicels.

Calyx. — Urn-shaped, downy or tomentose, five-lobed ; lobes slen-
der, acute, persistent, imbricate in bud.

Corolla.— Petals five, rose colored, obovate, rounded above, with
long narrow claws, undulate or crenulate at margin, inserted on the
calyx tube, imbricate in bud.

Stamens. — Ten to twenty, inserted on the calyx tube, shorter than
the petals ; filaments by a partial twist forming a tube narrowed in
the middle and enlarged above ; anthers introrse, two-celled ; cells
opening longitudinally.

133

ROSE FAMILY

Pistil. — Of five carpels inserted in the bottom of the calyx tube
and united into an inferior ovary ; styles five ; stigma capitate ;
ovules two in each cell.

Fruit. — Pome or apple ripening in October. Depressed-globular,
an inch to an inch and a half in diameter, crowned with calyx lobes
and remnant of filaments ; yellow green, delightfully fragrant, sur-
face sometimes waxy. Flesh white, delicate and charged with ma-
lic acid. Seeds two or, by abortion, one in each cell, chestnut
brown, shining ; cotyledons fleshy.

As the apple tree among the trees of the wood,
So is my beloved among the sons.

— SONG OF SOLOMON.

Kalm, who was one of the twelve men whom Linnaeus called his apostles and
sent forth to explore the vegetable world, writes thus from America :

" Crab-trees are a species of wild apple-trees, which grow in the woods and
glades, but especially on little hillocks, near rivers. In New Jersey the tree is
rather scarce ; but in Pennsylvania it is plentiful. Some people had planted a
single tree of this kind near their houses on account of the fine smells which its
flowers afford. It had begun to open some of its flowers about a day or two
ago ; however, most of them were not yet open. They are exactly like the blos-
soms of the common apple-trees except that the color is a little more reddish in
the Crab-trees ; though some kinds of the cultivated trees have flowers which
are very near as red ; but the smell distinguishes them plainly ; for the wild
trees have a very pleasant smell, somewhat like the raspberry.

u The apples, or crabs, are small, sour and unfit for anything but to make vine-
gar of. They lie under the trees all winter and acquire a yellow color. They
seldom begin to rot before spring comes on. "

When man emerges into history he has the apple in his
hand and the dog by his side. We have no reason to believe
that the European or Asiatic forbear from which the apple
Of civilization is descended was any less harsh in taste or any
larger in size than our own crab. Indeed, were all the apples
of civilization swept out of existence they could doubtless be
regained by the cultivation of our native tree. As it is, it
stands in all its wild and untrained beauty, its greatest charm
lying, as Kalm clearly apprehended, in its rose-colored blos-
soms, exquisite in tint and delicious in fragrance. Its flow-
ering time is ten- days to two weeks later than that of the
domestic apple, and its fragrant fruit clings to the branches
on clustered stems long after the leaves have fallen.

134

CRAB APPLE

Fruiting Spray of Crab Apple, Pyrm coronaria.

Leaves 3' to 4' long. Apples i' to \l/.f in diameter.

ROSE FAMILY

MOUNTAIN ASH

Pyrus americ&na

A small tree which loves the north and climbs the high mountain
ranges of Virginia and North Carolina, but does not cross the Rock-
ies. Prefers a rich moist soil and the borders of swamps, but will
flourish on rocky hillsides. Attains its largest size on the northern
shores of Lakes Huron and Superior ; in the United States it is usu-
ally a shrub.

Bark. — Light gray, smooth, surface scaly. Branchlets downy at
first, later become smooth, brown tinged with red, lenticular, finally
they become darker and the papery outer layer becomes easily sep-
arable.

Wood. — Pale brown ; light, soft, close-grained but weak. Sp. gr.,
0.5451 ; weight of cu. ft., 33-97 Ibs.

Winter Buds. — Dark red, acute, one-fourth to three-quarters of
an inch long. Inner scales are very tomentose and enlarge with
the growing shoot.

Leaves. — Alternate, compound, unequally pinnate, six to ten
inches long, with slender, grooved, dark green or red petiole. Leaflets
thirteen to seventeen, lanceolate or long oval, two to three inches
long, one-half to two-thirds broad, unequally wedge-shaped or
rounded at base, serrate, acuminate, sessile, the terminal one some-
times borne on a stalk half an inch long, feather-veined, midrib
prominent beneath, grooved above. They come out of the bud
downy, conduplicate ; when full grown are smooth, dark yellow green
above and paler beneath. In autumn they turn a clear yellow.
Stipules leaf-like, caducous.

Flowers. — May, June, after the leaves are full grown. Perfect,
white, one-eighth of an inch across, borne in flat compound cymes
three or four inches across. Bracts and bractlets acute, minute,
caducous.

Calyx. — Urn-shaped, hairy, five-lobed ; lobes, short, acute, im-
bricate in bud.

Corolla. — Petals five, creamy white, orbicular, contracted into
short claws, inserted on calyx, imbricate in bud.

Stamens. — Twenty to thirty, inserted on calyx tube ; filaments
thread-like ; anthers introrse, two-celled ; cells opening longi-
tudinally.

Pistil. — Two to three carpels inserted in the bottom of the calyx
tube and united into an inferior ovary. Styles two to three ; stig-
mas capitate ; ovules two in each cell.

136

MOUNTAIN ASH

Fruiting Spray of Mountain Ash, Pyrus amcrtcaiia.

Leaves 6r to ic/ long. Leaflets 2' to 3' long.

ROSE FAMILY

Fruit. — Berry-like pome, globular, one-quarter of an inch across,
bright red, borne in cymous clusters. Ripens in October and re-
mains on the tree all winter. Flesh thin and sour, charged with malic
acid ; seeds light brown, oblong, compressed ; cotyledons fleshy.

The mountain Ash,

Decked with autumnal berries that outshine
Springs richest blossoms, yields a splendid show
Amid the leafy woods.

— WORDSWORTH.

Our Mountain Ash, Pyrus americana^ so nearly resembles
the European, Pyrus aucuparia, in general appearance of
leaves and blossoms that many botanists consider it merely
a variety ; but in form it differs considerably, nor does it ever
become so handsome a tree.

The berries look as if they might be good to eat, but it is
evident that the birds do not find them so. As a matter of
fact they are sour, bitter, and of a disagreeable flavor, and go
untouched by the birds so long as any other fruit is within
reach ; and are finally eaten under protest.

The Mountain Ash which is usually planted in lawns and
yards is the European species, and it is well worthy of cul-
tivation on account of its foliage, its blossoms and its
berries.

In Europe many curious superstitions hang about the Roan
or Rowan-tree, as the Mountain Ash is there called, and a
century ago it was considered by the lower classes as a sov-
ereign charm against witches. The more uncivilized and
ignorant a people, the more do they consider themselves in
danger from witchcraft and evil spirits. Many plants such
as St. John's -wort and clover were considered specifics
against the wiles of witches, but a twig of the Rowan-tree
was believed to surpass them all. For this purpose it was
made into walking-sticks or branches of it were hung about
the house and stables. The explanation of this is that the
tree was in some way connected with the ancient Druidical
worship, and the superstitions of to-day are but the far-off
echoes of former religious beliefs.

138

MOUNTAIN ASH

Fruiting Spray of European Mountain Ash, Pyrus aucupatia.

ROSE FAMILY

A stanza of an ancient song runs thus : —

Their spells were vain ; the hags returned
To the queen in sorrowful mood,
Crying that witches have no power
Where there is roan-tree wood.

Pyrus sambuci folia is a tree of more northern range than
P. americana. In general appearance it is not unlike it, but
both blossoms and fruit are larger.

COCKSPUR THORN. NEWCASTLE THORN

Craticgns crtis-gdlli.

Cratcegus is of Greek derivation, referring to the strength of the
wood produced by the different species. Crus-galli refers to the
character of the thorns. The name of Newcastle Thorn had its
origin in the fact that this thorn was once largely used as a
hedge plant by the farmers of Newcastle County, Delaware.

A small tree with stout, rigid, spreading branches and a broad flat
or round head. Branches usually armed with long slender spines.
Roots fibrous. Loves rich soil along the margins of swamps or near
streams ; succeeds as a hedge plant.

Bark. — Light reddish brown, or ashy gray, surface separated into
scales. Branchlets at first green but soon become light brown or
gray tinged with brown. In their second year they become armed
with spines and these continue to enlarge for many years, often be-
coming many branched and six or eight inches long.

J^?0,/.— Reddish brown ; heavy, hard, close-grained with a satiny
surface. Sp. gr., 0.7194 ; weight of cu. ft., 44.83 Ibs.

Winter Buds. — Chestnut brown, obtuse, one-eighth of an inch
long. Inner scales grow with the growing shoot and often become
one-half an inch long and bright red before they fall.

Leaves. — Alternate, simple, obovate-cuneiform to broadly oval or
linear-oblong, one to three inches long, tapering from the middle
to the petiole, sharply serrate except toward the base, acute or
rounded at apex. Feather-veined ; midrib and primary veins nar-
row. They come out of the bud conduplicate, when full grown are
smooth, thick, dark green and shining above, paler beneath. In
autumn they turn orange and scarlet. Petioles short, broad. Stipules
vary in form from linear, acute to obliquely ovate, early deciduous.

140

COCKSPUR THORN

Cockspur Thorn, Crata-gus cnis-galli.
Leaves r to y long.

ROSE FAMILY

Flowers. — May, June; when leaves are full grown. Perfect, white,
two-thirds of an inch across. Borne in many-flowered thin-branched
racemose corymbs, the lower branches from the axils of leaves.
Pedicels slender, one-half to one inch in length. Bracts and bract-
lets acute, half an inch long.

Calyx. — Urn-shaped, narrow, five-lobed; lobes linear-lanceolate,
serrate, finally reflexed, persistent, imbricate in bud.

Corolla. — Petals five, round, white, inserted on the calyx tube,
imbricate in bud.

Stamens. — Ten, inserted with the petals ; filaments short ; anthers
introrse, two-celled ; cells opening longitudinally.

Pistil. — Ovary of two or three carpels inserted in the bottom of
calyx tube and united with it ; styles two ; stigmas capitate ; ovules
two.

Fruit. — Drupe-like pome with bony stones, globular or pyriform,
one-third to one-half an inch long, crowned with the calyx lobes,
dull red ; flesh thin, dry ; nutlets one-fourth of an inch long, rounded
at both ends, two to three-grooved on back. September ; remains
on the tree until spring.

When it was made certain that the Hawthorn, C. oxyacantha,
which makes up the great body of the hedges of England,
really would not flourish in this country, the attention of
farmers and gardeners was turned toward our native thorns
to see if any of them were available as hedge plants. The
Cockspur Thorn is the only one that has at all proved itself
equal to the requirements, yet since the introduction of the
Osage Orange it has fallen into disuse. But cultivated as an
ornamental tree it is particularly attractive. It flowers
late, after its large and shining leaves are fully developed,
grouping in this respect with the Horse-chestnut, the Lo-
cust, and the Catalpa. Then its fruit hangs red upon the
tree all winter long ; in autumn the leaves turn a bright
orange and scarlet, and when the tree stands leafless the
spread of its branches is very beautiful.

The leaves of the Cockspur Thorn are likely to vary con-
siderably on different individuals and not infrequently on the
same individual. Six varieties are reported to be in cul-
tivation, each distinguished by its leaf.

142

WHITE THORN

WHITE THORN. SCARLET HAW. SCARLET
FRUITED THORN

Crat&gus cocclnea.

A low tree fifteen to twenty feet high with short stout trunk,
crooked spreading branches forming a broad flat head ; common
throughout the northern states. Roots fibrous. Found either in
thickets or solitary, in upland woods, in rocky pastures or near the
borders of streams.

Bark. — Light brown, or ashy gray, slightly fissured surface broken
into small scales. Branchlets at first light green, lustrous, later red-
dish or light brown or light gray, finally become armed with slender
straight or slightly curved, brown, shining, persistent spines one or
two inches long.

Wood. — Brown, tinged with red ; heavy, hard and close-grained.
Sp. gr., 0.8618 ; weight of cu. ft., 53.71 Ibs.

Winter Buds. — Globular, tiny, chestnut brown. Inner scales grow
with the growing shoot, becoming an inch long before they fall.

Leaves. — Alternate, simple, broad-ovate, one to five inches long,
wedge-shaped, rounded or truncate at base, acutely cut or slightly
five to nine-lobed, sharply and finely serrate, acute. Feather-veined,
midrib prominent, primary veins strongest toward the base. They
come out of the bud, conduplicate, green ; when full grown they are
thin, smooth, shining, bright green above, paler green beneath.
They turn bright yellow in autumn. Petioles long, slender, grooved,
smooth or hairy. Stipules are leaf-like, serrate, acute, early decid-
uous.

Flowers. — May, when leaves are nearly grown. Perfect, white,
borne in few-flowered corymbs, on slender pedicels ; vary in size
from one-half inch to one inch in diameter with strong and disagree-
able odor.

Calyx. — Urn-shaped, five-lobed ; lobes much shorter than the
petals, finally reflexed, imbricate in bud.

Petals. — Five, inserted on the calyx tube, white, obovate, erose,
imbricate in bud.

Stamens. — Ten, inserted with the petals ; filaments thread-like ;
anthers purple, introrse, two-celled ; cells opening longitudinally.

Pistil. — Ovary of two to five carpels, inserted in the bottom of the
calyx tube and united with it ; styles two to five ; stigmas capitate ;
ovules two.

Fruit. — Drupe-like pome with bony stones, borne*in umbels of two
or three ; bright scarlet, crowned with the calyx lobes ; globular or
slightly elongated, one-third to one-half an inch in diameter. Sep-
tember or October ; remains all winter, some":Viqt edible.

143

ROSE FAMILY

Professor Sargent calls this a " bushy, intricately branched
tree " and any one who has ever hunted among its branches
for -birds' nests will fully appreciate the felicitous character-
ization. This is the thorn of old pasture fields, and the race
of sparrows have ever sought safety for their nests among
its twisted, rigid, well-armed twigs.

The spines are not mature except on third year wood.
They are undeveloped branches and appear from buds grow-
ing in the axils of former leaves. On the second year wood
they reach three-eighths of an inch in length and in winter are
crowned with a single globular bud, this continues the growth
for another year. Then they become sharp and pointed and
further growth ceases except as they enlarge with the branch.

The haws of all the thorns are alike in this, that they sug-
gest tiny apples, but the ratio of seed to flesh is out of all rea-
son, from the standpoint of the consumer. It is apparent
that even the birds take this view of the case, for the scarlet
haws are frequently left on the branches all winter long ;
while their neighbors the black cherries are eagerly eaten
and the sassafras berries are scarcely allowed to ripen. They
are smooth, of a beautiful shining red, but they keep the
promise to the eye only to break it to the hope.

SCARLET HAW. HAWTHORN

Cratcegns mollis.

A small tree, with straight trunk, spreading and contorted
branches, which form a round, compact head. Roots fibrous.
Grows on margins of swamps, along the banks of streams, on prai-
ries in rich soil.

Bark. — Reddish brown to ashy gray. The surface broken into
small scales. Branchlets when young are tomentous, then become
orange brown and lustrous, finally ashy gray. Stout, zigzag, armed
with stout, chestnut brown, shining spines two or three inches long,
these at length become ashy gray.

Wood. — Light brown; heavy, hard, close-grained. Sp. gr.,
°-7953 ; weight of cu. ft., 49.56 Ibs.

144

WHITE THORN

Fruiting Branch of White Thorn, Crattzgus coccinea.

Leaves \r to 5' long. Haws l/$f to l/£f in diameter.

ROSE FAMILY

Winter Suds. — Obtuse, chestnut brown, one-eighth of an inch
long. Inner scales grow with the growing shoot, becoming nearly an
inch long before they fall.

Leaves. — Alternate, simple, broadly ovate, almost orbicular, two
to four inches long, one and one-half inches to three broad, wedge-
shaped, truncate or rounded at base, sharply incised with many
shallow lobes, finely and unevenly serrate, acute. Feather-veined,
midrib and primary veins prominent beneath and depressed above.
They come out of the bud conduplicate, pale green, coated with to-
mentum or hairy ; when full grown are then smooth or rough, light
green above, paler beneath. Petioles grooved, stout, hairy, an inch
to two inches in length. Stipules leaf-like, acute or linear, early
deciduous.

Flowers. — May, when leaves are half grown. Perfect, white, an
inch to an inch and a quarter across when expanded, borne in broad,
stout, branched, hairy corymbs.

Calyx. — Urn-shaped, tomentous or hairy, five-lobed ; lobes acute,
serrate, finally reflexed and persistent, imbricate in bud. Calyx and
peduncles glandular.

Corolla. — Petals five, white, inserted on the calyx,, rounded, im-
bricate in bud. §^B& <*t*

Stamens. — Ten, inserted with the petali ; filaments thread-like ;
anthers introrse, two-celled ; cells opening longitudinally.

Pistil. — Ovaries inferior, two to five, inserted in the bottom of the
calyx tube and united with it; styles two to five ; stigmas capitate;
ovules two in each cell.

Fruit. — Drupe-like pome with bony stones, globular or lengthened
or pyriform, crowned with the calyx lobes, bright orange scarlet cov-
ered with glaucous bloom, one inch to one and a quarter inches in
length. Ripens in September, falls at once. Flesh yellow, juicy,
slightly acid and with a pleasant flavor; nutlets lunate.

This is the handsomest of the American Hawthorns and
bears the only haws that by any stretch of the imagination
could be considered edible. The flesh is thin for an apple,
but thick for a haw and of a pleasant flavor. The fruit falls
in September as soon as it ripens. For many years this Haw
was confused with C. coccinea, but there are marked differ-
ences between them. The fruit is larger, the leaf is much
larger, broader, more nearly orbicular, nor is it so deeply cut.
This species is admirably adapted as an ornament to the lawn
— its branches touch the ground — it will grow in a close py-
ramidal head — is very free from insects' attacks, it flowers
and fruits orofusely— and in every way is satisfactory.

14.6

SCARLET HAW

Fruiting Branch of Scarlet Haw Crata^m mollis.

Leaves 2' to 4' long. Haws i' to

in length.

ROSE FAMILY

All our thorns are attractive in habit, foliage, flower and
fruit and are worthy of cultivation. One difficulty in obtain-
ing them lies in the slow germination of the seed, which often
requires two years.

BLACK THORN. HAWTHORN

Cratagus tomenlbsa.

Not very common tree, fifteen or twenty feet in height, with slen-
der contorted branches which form a wide flat head, often a shrub
with many straggling stems. Roots fibrous. Branchlets armed with
sharp slender spines an inch to an inch and a half in length.

Bark. — Dark brown to ashy gray, fissured and broken into small
scales. Branchlets coated at first with thick pale tomentum, later
they become dark orange color, finally they become ashy gray.

Wood. — Bright reddish brown; heavy, hard, close-grained. Sp.
gr., 0.7585; weight of cu. ft., 47.57 Ibs.

Winter Buds. — Small, globular, chestnut brown. Inner scales
grow with the growing shoot becoming nearly an inch long before
they fall.

Leaves. — Alternate, simple, ovate to ovate-oblong, two to five
inches long, incisely lobed and sharply and finely serrate, except at
the base, gradually narrowing at the base and running into winged
petioles, acute or rarely rounded at the apex. Conspicuously retic-
ulate-veined, midrib broad and primary veins prominent. They
come out of the bud conduplicate, when full grown are thin gray
green, smooth above, but very downy beneath. In autumn they turn
orange and scarlet. Petioles winged, grooved, sometimes glandular.
Stipules linear, glandular, serrate, early deciduous.

Flowers. — May, June, later than the White Thorn. Perfect, white,
half an inch across, very ill scented, borne in broad, leafy, downy,
slender-branched cymes.

Calyx. — Urn-shaped, coated with pale tomentum, five-lobed ;
lobes lanceolate, serrate, acute, often glandular, finally reflexed, per-
sistent, imbricate in bud.

Corolla. — Petals five, obovate, erose, inserted in the calyx tube,
imbricate in bud.

Stamens. — Fifteen to twenty, inserted with the petals ; filaments
thread-like ; anthers introrse, two-celled ; cells opening longitu-
dinally.

Pistil. — Ovary inferior, two to five carpels inserted at the bottom
of the calyx tube and united with it.

148

BLACK THORN

Sprays of Black. Thorn, Cratcegus tomentosa.
Leaves 2' to 5' long.

ROSE FAMILY

Fruit. — Drupe-like pome with bony stones, ovoid, rarely globular,
dull red, one-half inch long, crowned with calyx lobes, erect ; flesh
thin and dry. Ripens in September and October and remains on
branches all winter. Nutlets rounded, obscurely two-grooved on the
back.

This Hawthorn is not very common in the northern states,
is found most abundantly in central New York. It prefers
rich alluvial soil and is found on the margin of forests. Its
brilliant autumn foliage and its red winter berries recommend
it as an ornamental plant. It comes into flower somewhat
later than the others.

DOTTED HAW

Cratfcgns punctata.

A thick wide spreading tree, forming a broad, round or flat-topped
head. Branches slender, rigid, armed with straight, sharp, light
brown spines, two to three inches long, sometimes unarmed.
Roots fibrous. Ranges from Quebec to Ontario and southward to
middle Tennessee, and along the mountains to Georgia and Ala-
bama. Prefers rich moist soil, will grow in upland pastures where
it forms thickets.

Bark. — Dark, reddish brown, broken into long scales. Branch-
lets at first downy, later they become light brown ; in second year
are ashy gray, silvery white, or light brown.

Wood. — Bright reddish brown ; heavy, hard, close-grained. Sp.
gr., 0.7681 ; weight of cu. ft., 47.87 Ibs.

Winter Buds. — Pale brown, shining, obtuse.

Leaves. — Alternate, simple, wedge-obovate, two to three inches
long, base wedge-shaped, tapering from above the middle of the
leaf into long winged petioles, sharply and unevenly serrate above
the middle, sometimes incisely cut, often entire below, apex acute or
rounded. Feather-veined, midrib and primary veins depressed
above, prominent beneath. They come out of the bud condupli-
ca-te, when full grown are thick and firm, pale gray green, smooth
above, paler and hairy beneath. In autumn they turn bright orange
or orange and scarlet. Petioles grooved, winged. Stipules lanceo-
late, glandular, serrated, acute, and early deciduous.

Flowers. — May, June, after the leaves. Perfect, white, one-half
to three-quarters of an inch across, borne in broad, thick-branched
downy or tomentous corymbs. Pedicels are stout and hairy.

150

DOTTED HAW

Sprays of Dotted Haw, Cratccgus pundata.

Leaves 2' to 3' long.

ROSE FAMILY

Calyx, — Urn-shaped, more or less tomentose, five-lobed ; lobes
acute, finally reflexed, persistent, imbricate in bud.

Corolla. — Petals five, obovate, erose, inserted on the calyx, im-
bricate in bud.

Stamens. — Fifteen to twenty, inserted with the petals; filaments
thread-like ; anthers introrse, two-celled ; cells opening longitudi-
nally.

Pistils. — Ovary of two to five carpels inserted in the bottom of the
calyx tube, united with it ; styles two to five.

Fruit. — Drupe-like pome with bony seeds, globular or elongated,
crowned with the calyx lobes, dull red, sometimes yellow, marked
by many small white spots, three -fourths to one inch in length ;
flesh thin and dry ; nutlets rounded and grooved on the back.
Ripens in September and falls at once. Somewhat edible.

All the thorns are trees of the pasture lands. The com-
mon story of them all is that they love the moist, rich, alluvial
soil, but failing that they will grow in upland fields, not soli-
tary only but in thickets. Even the best of them in its best
estate and in that most favoring region on this continent,
northern Louisiana and Texas, can only reach the height of
thirty feet, hence they are doomed in the forest to become of
the second grade and to grow in the shade. In the forest
they are outclassed by many a rapid grower, but in the
pastures, not so. The seeds of ash, maple, and willow may
lodge in the pasture land, they may find congenial soil and
favoring climate, but they have no protection against the
grazing flocks and they yield in the contest. But the thorns
present so sharp a defence that in time they triumph over the
hard conditions and not only live but flourish.

JUNE-BERRY

JUNE-BERRY. SHAD BUSH. SERVICE-BERRY.

Ameldnchier canadensis.

Amelanchier is derived from Amelancier, the popular name of the
European species.

A medium sized tree with a tall slender trunk and small spreading
branches which form a narrow, oblong head. It ranges throughout
eastern United States, southward to Florida and westward to Min-
nesota. Prefers rich soil in upland woods. On the mountains
of North Carolina and Tennessee it reaches its greatest size. Roots
fibrous.

Bark. — Pale red brown, divided into narrow ridges the surface of
which is scaly. Branchlets bright green, later become dark brown
or purplish brown, smooth.

Wood. — Dark brown, sometimes tinged with red ; heavy, hard,
close-grained and strong. Sp. gr., 0.7838 ; weight of cu. ft., 48.85
Ibs.

Winter Buds. — Chestnut brown, acute, one - fourth of an inch
long. Inner scales enlarge with the growing shoot and are some-
times an inch long before they fall.

Leaves. — Alternate, simple, ovate to ovate-oblong, three to four
inches long, one and a half to two inches broad, cordate or rounded
at base, serrate, acute or acuminate. Feather - veined, midrib
grooved above, prominent beneath. They come out of the bud
conduplicate, reddish brown and hairy, when full grown are smooth,
deep green above, paler beneath. In autumn they turn a bright
yellow. Petioles slender, grooved. Stipules lanceolate, downy,
early deciduous.

Flowers. — April, when leaves are about one-third grown. Per-
fect, white, borne in racemes from three to five inches long. Each
flower has a slender pedicel, furnished with two lanceolate, purplish
silky bractlets which fall as the flower opens.

Calyx. — Campanulate, five - lobed ; lobes lanceolate, acute,
downy, persistent, imbricate in bud.

Corolla. — Petals five, white, strap-shaped, one-half inch to an
inch in length, inserted on the calyx tube, imbricate in bud.

Stamens. — Twenty, inserted on the calyx tube; filaments per-
sistent in fruit ; anthers introrse, two-celled ; cells opening longi-
tudinally.

Pistil. — Ovary two to five-celled, united to calyx tube. Styles
two to five, with broad stigmas ; ovules two in each cell. When
mature each cell has been divided by a cartilaginous partition, giv-
ing ten cells and one seed in each.

153

ROSE FAMILY

Fruit. — Berry -like pome, depressed - globular or pyriform,
open at the summit, crowned with the calyx lobes and remnants of
the filaments. One-third to one-half of an inch long, rich purple
with slight bloom. Ripens in June, is sweet, with delicious flavor.
Seeds dark brown; cotyledons thick.

At the time when the hazy, misty cloud of bursting buds
rests over the wooded hillside, a single tree suddenly de-
taches itself from the cloudy mist and stands forth clothed
in soft, feathery, indeterminate white. This is the June-
berry, otherwise known as the Shad Bush. This homely
name of Shad Bush was given it by the early inhabitants of
the eastern states because it chances to bloom by the side
of our tidal rivers at the time that the shad ascends them to
spawn.

We know that nature's methods are gradual, that species
are not cut apart by sharp divisions, but it is not often that
we are permitted to trace the process of species-making, step
by step. The June-berries permit us to do this. There are
in America two well-defined species, the Atlantic, A. cana-
densis and the Pacific, A. ainifolia ; they differ in form of
flower, shape of leaf, and size of fruit. Yet they are one,
though two.

On one side of the continent the mist-laden atmosphere of
the low lands and the cold winds from the Atlantic have de-
veloped A. canadensis. On the other side the subtle influ-
ence of a clearer atmosphere, together with a higher altitude
and warmer winds has produced A. ainifolia.

On the Rocky Mountains where the two forms meet they
insensibly melt into each other and it is not possible to say
where one species ends and the other begins, nor of many in-
dividuals to which household they belong. Both can be
referred to an earlier arctic form which, driven southward
by the glaciers, returned to such different environments, that
two species developed and the intermediate forms persist.

Our June-berry is little known save in its native haunts.
Its leaves somewhat resemble those of the pear, but are finer
and more delicate, covered with a soft, silken clown as they

JUNE-BERRY

June-berry, Amelanclner canadensis.

Leaves 3' to 4' long, \y2' to 2' broad.

ROSE FAMILY

come from the bud but becoming smooth at maturity. The
flowers are in loose racemes at the ends of the branches.

The fruit is delicious and ripens in June. The only objec-
tion to the berries is that they are so few, the largest trees
rarely produce more than a quart, and the birds, knowing a
good thing when they see it, get most of them. It is recorded
that the Indians esteemed them highly.

The flora of Japan, which in so many respects resembles
that of America, possesses a very superior June-berry which
has been introduced into this country and if acclimated will
be a grateful addition to our list of fruit trees.

HAM AMELIDACE.E— WITCH HAZEL
FAMILY

WITCH HAZEL

HamamMis virginiftna.

Hamamelis is a name anciently applied to a tree which blos-
somed at the same time as the apple tree. Witch is a modern
spelling of the Saxon wick or wych. The meaning of the word
in this connection is doubtful ; Loudon refers it to salt springs,
moist places ; other authorities think it means pendulous, droop-
ing. Two trees are so named — the wych elm and the wych hazel.

A shrub of numerous diverging stems ten to fifteen feet high, be-
coming a small tree only on the mountains of North and South
Carolina and Tennessee. Found in deep ravines, north shaded hill-
sides and at the edge of woodlands. Roots fibrous.

Bark — Light brown, smooth, scaly, inner bark reddish purple.
Branchlets at first scurfy ; later smooth, light orange brown, marked
with occasional small white dots, finally dark or reddish brown.

Wood. — Light reddish brown, sap wood nearly white ; heavy,
hard, close-grained. Sp. gr., 0.6856 ; weight of cu. ft, 42.72 Ibs.

Winter Buds. — Acute, slightly falcate, downy, light brown.

Leaves. — Alternate, simple, obovate or oval, four to six inches
long, unequal at base, wavy-toothed, acute or rounded at apex.
Feather-veined; midrib stout with six to seven pairs of primary
veins. They come out of the bud involute, covered with stellate
rusty down ; when full grown are dark green above, paler beneath ;
midrib and veins more or less hairy. In autumn they turn yellow
with rusty spots. Petioles stout, half an inch to an inch long.
Stipules lanceolate, acute, infolding the buds.

Flowers. — October, November. Usually perfect, yellow, borne
in three-flowered clusters on axillary, simple or rarely branched
peduncles bearing two deciduous bractlets, each flower surrounded

157

WITCH HAZEL FAMILY

by two or three ovate bracts, slightly united at base to form an in-
volucre. Bracts and bractlets coated with rusty hairs. The clus-
ters of flower buds appear in August, developed from the axils of
the leaves of the year.

Calyx. — Deeply four-parted, very downy, orange brown within,
imbricate in bud, persistent, cohering with the base of the ovary.
Two or three bractlets appear at base.

Corolla. — Petals four, inserted on the receptacle, yellow, strap-
shaped, narrow, one-half to two-thirds of an inch long, alternate
with the calyx lobes, involute in bud.

Stamens. — Eight, inserted in the receptacle, very short, the four
which are alternate with the petals, anther-bearing, the others 'im-
perfect and scale-like. Filaments short, connective thickened and
prolonged ; anthers, introrse, two-celled ; cells opening at the side
from within by persistent valves.

Pistil. — Ovary of two carpels, free at their apex, inserted at the
bottom of the cup-like receptacle, partly superior ; styles two, awl-
shaped, spreading, persistent, stigmatic at apex ; ovules one or two
in each cell.

Fruit. — A yellow brown, two-celled, woody pod, each cell con-
taining one black shining seed. Each cell bursts open when ripe
and projects the little nut from five to fifteen feet. Ripens in Oc-
tober when the flowers are expanding.

Through the gray and sombre wood

Again t the dusk of fir and pine
Last of their floral sisterhood

The hazel's yellow blossoms shine.

— JOHN G. WHITTIER.

This shrubby little tree is one of the most curious and in-
teresting plants in our northern flora. When all other trees
are making ready for winter, when its own leaves are yellow
and falling, it bursts forth into abundant bloom. The clus-
ters of tiny yellow flowers crowd upon a branch already laden
with the ripe nutlets of last year's blossoms, and wave in
beauty throughout the entire month of November. This
peculiarity, together with the suggestive name " witch," is
doubtless an explanation of the fact that those persons who
profess to be able to indicate the position of hidden springs
of water prefer, as divining rods, the forked twigs of Witch
Hazel.

Although the flowers appear in October no growth takes
place in the ovary until the following spring, the calyx lobes

158

WITCH HAZEL

Witch Hazel, Hamamelis virginiaiu.
Leaves 4' to 6' long.

WITCH HAZEL FAMILY

simply surround and protect it. The petals are spirally in-
volute in aestivation, that is, each one is rolled in upon itself
and when fully expanded they still look crumpled and wavy.

An interesting peculiarity of the fruit is the way the tiny
nuts are discharged from their woody pod. As the pod
bursts the contraction of its edges presses upon the enclosed
seeds and causes them to fly to a distance of several feet.
Bring home in November a fruiting spray and place it upon
the table ; no sooner has the warmth of the room dried the
tiny capsules than the miniature bombardment will begin
and will continue until every seed is forced out of its cover-
ing.

The bark and leaves of the Witch Hazel are reputed to
possess medicinal properties on account of the tradition that
they were used by the Indians in the treatment of external
inflammations. "Pond's Extract" is a distillation of the bark
in dilute alcohol. This remedy has great popularity, but
chemists so far have failed to distinguish any active medicinal
properties in the plant.

SWEET GUM. LIQUIDAMBAR

Liquiddmbar styraciflua.

The name is derived from Uquidus and the Arabic word ambar,
referring to the balsamic juices of the tree. StyraciJJua from the
name of an ancient balsam.

A tree sixty to one hundred and forty feet in height, with erect
trunk two to five feet in diameter, slender branches and handsome
conical head. Ranges from Connecticut to Florida on the coast and
westward through Arkansas and Indian Territory. It appears on
the mountain ranges in Mexico and Central America. Loves low,
moist, bottom lands, but will grow in dry elevated regions. Roots
fibrous ; juices balsamic.

Bark.— Light brown tinged with red, deeply fissured, ridges scaly.
Branchlets pithy, many-angled, winged, at first covered with rusty
hairs, finally becoming red brown, gray or dark brown.

160

WITCH HAZEL

Flowers and Fruit of V/itch Hazel.

WITCH HAZEL FAMILY

Wood. — Bright reddish brown, sap wood nearly white ; heavy,
straight, satiny, close-grained, not strong ; will take a beautiful pol-
ish ; warps badly in drying. Has been used with good results in
the interior finish of sleeping-cars and fine houses. The wood is
usually cut in veneers and backed up with some other variety which
shrinks and warps less. Sp. gr., 0.5910 ; weight of cu. ft. ,36.83
Ibs.

Winter Buds. — Yellow brown, one-fourth of an inch long, acute.
The inner scales enlarge with the growing shoot, becoming half an
inch long, green tipped with red.

Leaves. — Alternate, three to five inches long, three to seven inches
broad, lobed, so as to make a star-shaped leaf of five to seven divis-
ions, these divisions acutely pointed, with glandular serrate teeth.
The base is truncate or slightly heart-shaped. They come out of
the bud plicate, downy, pale green, when full grown are bright
green, smooth, shining above, paler beneath. In autumn they vary
in color from yellow through crimson to purple. They contain tan-
nin and when bruised give a resinous fragrance. Petioles long,
slender, terete. Stipules lanceolate, acute, caducous.

Flowers. — March to May, when leaves are half grown ; monoeci-
ous, greenish. Staminate flowers in terminal racemes two to three
inches long, covered with rusty hairs ; the pistillate in a solitary
head on a slender peduncle borne in the axil of an upper leaf. Stam-
inate flowers destitute of calyx and corolla, but surrounded by hairy
bracts. Stamens indefinite ; filaments short ; anthers introrse.
Pistillate flowers with a two-celled, two-
beaked ovary, the carpels produced into a
long, recurved, persistent style. The ova-
ries all more or less cohere and harden in
fruit. Ovules many but few mature.

Fruit. — Multicapsular spherical head, an
inch to an inch and a half in diameter,
hangs on the branches during the winter.
The woody capsules mostly filled with abor-
tive seeds resembling sawdust.

The starry five-pointed leaves of the
Liquidambar suggest the Sugar Maple,
and its fruit balls as they hang upon
their long stems resemble those of the
Buttonwood. The distinguishing mark
of the tree, however, is the peculiar
appearance of its small branches and
twigs. The bark attaches itself to
these in plates edgewise instead of laterally, and a piece of
the leafless branch with the aid of a little imagination readily

162

Section of a Twig of Sweet
Gum Showing the Corky
Wings of the Bark.

SWEET GUM

Sweet Gum, Liquidambar styraciflua.

Leaves 3' to 5' long, 3' to 7' broad.

WITCH HAZEL FAMILY

takes on a reptilian form ; indeed, the tree is sometimes
called Alligator-wood.

The autumnal coloring is not simply a flame, it is a confla-
gration ; in reds and yellows it equals the maples, and in ad-
dition it has the dark purples
and smoky browns of the ash.
Liquidambar finds its most
congenial home east of the
Alleghanies and in the basin
of the lower Mississippi. It is
one of three who are the sur-
vivors of an ancient and wide-
ly distributed family. Its im-
mediate ancestor inhabited in
tertiary times Alaska, Green-
land and the mid-continental
plateau of North America, a
similar form is also found in
the miocene of Europe. The
other living representatives of
the genus are L. orientalis,
found in Asia Minor, and L.
Formosana, found in China and

Fruit of sweet Gum. the Island of Formosa. The

storax of commerce is a gum

obtained from the inner bark of the two eastern species ;
our northern tree produces very little, and that only in its
most southern habitat.

164

ARALIACE.E— GINSENG FAMILY

HERCULES' CLUB. ANGELICA-TREE

Arcilia spinbsa.

An aromatic spiny tree with stout wide spreading branches,
twenty to thirty feet in height, trunk six to eight inches in diameter ;
oftener a cluster of branchless thorny stems ten to twenty feet high.
Roots thick and fleshy. Prefers a deep moist soil ; ranges from
Pennsylvania westward to Missouri and southward to Texas. Bark
of the root and the berries are used in medicine, principally in do-
mestic practice.

Bark. — Light brown, divided into rounded broken ridges. Branch-
lets one-half to two-thirds of an inch in diameter, armed with stout,
straight or curved, scattered prickles and nearly encircled by narrow
leaf scars. At first light yellow brown, shining and dotted, later
light brown.

Wood. — Brown with yellow streaks ; light, soft, brittle, close-
grained.

Winter Buds. — Terminal bud chestnut brown, one-half to three-
fourths of an inch long, conical, blunt ; axillary buds flattened, tri-
angular, one-fourth of an inch in length.

Leaves. — Clustered at the end of the branches, compound, bi- and
tri-pinnate, three to four feet long, two and a half feet broad. The
pinnae are unequally pinnate, having five or six pairs of leaflets
and a long stalked terminal leaflet; these leaflets are often them-
selves pinnate. The last leaflets are ovate, two to three inches
long, wedge-shaped or rounded at base, serrate or dentate, acute ;
midrib and primary veins prominent. They come out of the bud a
bronze green, shining, somewhat hairy ; when full grown are dark
green above, pale beneath ; midribs frequently furnished with
prickles. In autumn they turn a beautiful bronze red touched with
yellow. Petioles stout, light brown, eighteen to twenty inches in
length, clasping, armed with prickles. Stipules acute, one-half inch
long.

165

GINSENG FAMILY

Flowers. — July, August. Perfect or polygamo-moncecious, cream
white, borne in many-flowered umbels arranged in compound pani-
cles, forming a terminal racemose cluster, three to four feet in length
which rises, solitary or two or three together, above the spreading
leaves. Bracts and bractlets lanceolate, acute, persistent.

Calyx. — Calyx tube coherent with the ovary, minutely five-
toothed.

Corolla. — Petals five, white, inserted on margin of the disk, acute,
slightly inflexed at the apex, imbricate in bud.

Stamens. — Five, inserted on margin of the disk, alternate with the
petals ; filaments thread-like ; anthers oblong, attached on the
back, introrse, two-celled ; cells opening longitudinally.

Pistil. — Ovary inferior, five-celled; styles five, connivent ; stig-
mas capitate.

Fruit. — Berry-like drupe, globular, black, one-fourth of an inch
long, five-angled, crowned with the blackened styles. Flesh thin,
dark.

The habit of growth and general appearance of the Her-
cules' Club are unique. It is usually found as a group of
unbranched stems, rising to the height of twelve to twenty
feet, which bear upon their summits a crowded cluster of
doubly compound leaves, thus giving to eacb stem a certain
tropical palm-like appearance. This slender, swaying, palm-
like character is in the north only true of the young plants,
for after a single stem has buffeted the storms of many win-
ters it becomes a scrubby, deformed, little tree whose great
leaves can scarcely cover its ugliness even in summer. In
the south it is said to reach the height of fifty feet, still re-
taining its palm-like aspect.

The young stem is stout, thickly covered with sharp spines
and for the most part branchless or slightly branching, so that
when denuded of its leaves it looks very like a club, whence
its common name Hercules' Club. The leaves are the largest
produced by any tree of our flora, although the casual observer
might not think so, as the leaflets are but two to three inches
long. The leaves, however, are so compound, in this case
doubly pinnate and sometimes pinnate again, that when one
measures from the swollen base of the prickly petiole to the
apex of the farthest leaflet the tape frequently records three
feet and the spread of the pinnae from side to side is often

166

HERCULES CLUB

Hercules' Club, Aralia spinosa.

Leaves 3° to 4° long. Leaflets 2' to 3' long.

GINSENG FAMILY

two feet. In the autumn these leaves turn to a peculiar
bronze red touched with yellow which makes the tree con-
spicuous and beautiful.

The flowers are creamy white and ap-
pear in great, loose, flower clusters at the
very summit of the stem. You have
watched the tree all summer, June has
come and gone, July is well under way,
all other flowering trees are even now
maturing their fruit, when, suddenly, the
Hercules' Club shows signs of bloom and f
sometimes in July, often in August and
even in September, the belated flowers
come forth. The blooming spray, like the
leaf, is enormous, sometimes rising three
or four feet above the spreading leaves.
Many of the flowers are sterile, so there is

no such Senerous Production of fruit as
might be expected, but there is consider-
able. The little black drupes ripen quickly and hang in
clusters upon the tree all winter long, for their flesh is so
thin that they do not commend themselves to the birds.

|68

CORNACE^E— DOGWOOD FAMILY

FLOWERING DOGWOOD

Cdrnus fldrida.
Cornus from cornu a horn, refers to the hardness of the wood.

A bushy tree, from fifteen to thirty feet high, with short trunk and
spreading branches, making a flat-topped head. Roots fibrous. It
prefers dry land and will grow under the shade of taller trees. Bark,
leaves, and fruit, rich in tannic acid. Ranges from eastern Massa-
chusetts to central Florida west through southern Michigan to Mis-
souri and Texas.

Bark. — Reddish brown, divided into quadrangular plate- like
scales. Bitter and tonic. Branchlets at first pale green, later they
are red or yellow green, finally become light brown or reddish gray.

Winter Buds. — Formed in midsummer, terminal bud accompanied
by two pairs of lateral buds making a cluster. On fertile shoots the
terminal bud is replaced by the head of flower buds, which by mid-
summer protrudes from between the two upper lateral buds.

Wood. — Brown ; heavy, hard, strong, tough and close-grained ;
will take a beautiful polish. Used for hubs of small wheels, handles
of tools, mallets ; largely used in turnery. Sp. gr., 0.8153 ; weight
of cu. ft., 50.81 Ibs.

Leaves. — Opposite, somewhat clustered at the ends of the branches,
ovate or elliptical, three to five inches long, two to three wide, wedge-
shaped at base, wavy or entire, acute. Feather-veined, midrib promi-
nent, five to six pairs of primary veins. They come out of the bud
involute, at first pale green, downy ; when full grown are bright dark
green above, pale and downy beneath. In autumn they turn a brill-
iant scarlet. Petioles short, grooved.

Flowers. — April, May. Perfect, greenish, in a close cluster, sur-
rounded by a large, showy, four-leaved, corolla-like, white or rarely
pinkish involucre, borne on a stout peduncle an inch or an inch and
a half long, showy,

DOGWOOD FAMILY

Calyx. — Slightly urn-shaped, four-lobed, light green, coherent with
the ovary.

Corolla. — Petals four, valvate in bud, inserted on an epigynous
disk, rounded or acute at apex, slightly thickened at the margins,
green, tipped with yellow. Disk orange colored.

Stamens. — Four, inserted on the disk, exserted, alternate with the
petals. Filaments thread-like ; anthers oblong, introrse, versatile,
two-celled ; cells opening longitudinally.

Ovary. — Inferior, two-celled; style columnar; stigma truncate;
ovule one in each cell.

Fruit. — Ovoid drupe, borne in clusters of three or four, crowned
with the calyx lobes and remnant of the style, bright scarlet, half an
inch long, smooth, shining, bitter, aromatic. October. Cotyledons
foliaceous.

No other tree of our flora enables the observer so easily
to study the life history of its flowers arid fruit as does the
Dogwood. A shrub oftener than a tree, its branches are
within easy reach and it conducts its operations so openly
that they invite attention. When in early spring, the great
white blossoms appearing before the leaves transform the
tree into one huge bouquet, it is the glory of the fields and
challenges the attention and admiration of every observer.
In summer, its low branching habit and dense foliage give it
a peculiar and attractive appearance ; the clusters of shining
red berries together with the dark red leaves mark it in the
autumnal woods, and in the winter, the curious, gray, box-like,
flower-buds which tip its branches are unique and striking.

In order to understand the development of those great white
spring blossoms, it is necessary to study the tree in midsum-
mer of the preceding year. By July a little group of three
tiny buds has begun to form at the end of the many branch-
lets of a healthy, vigorous tree. If the terminal bud is to
produce flowers it soon outstrips its companions and pro-
trudes beyond them. This growth continues through the
late summer and on into autumn. By the time that the clus-
tered drupes are ripe and the leaves begin to turn scarlet,
these terminal flower-buds of the next year are about the
size of small peas, inclosed by four involucral scales, pointed
above, rounded below, light brownish gray in color, more or

170

FLOWERING DOGWOOD

A Branch of Flowering Dogwood, Cornus florida, Bearing Fruit and Next
Year's Flower Buds.

Leaves 3' to 5' long, 2' to 3' broad.

DOGWOOD FAMILY

less covered with pale hairs and borne on stout club-shaped
peduncles a quarter of an inch or less in length. These buds
stand up from the tips of the branchlets and are very con-
spicuous. After the leaves fall, and the -red berries have
been taken by the birds these gray buds remain unchanged,
stiff and unyielding throughout the winter.

One of the first indications of returning activity to plant
life is the gaping of these involucral scales at the apex of the
flower-bud. This happens about the time that the elm-buds
are beginning to swell and open, but the elm-flowers have
come and gone and the samaras are well grown before our
dogwood blossom is worthy of the name. But day after day
the change goes on. The involucral scales begin to enlarge,
unfold, grow white and at length about six weeks after the
first opening of the apex they become a flat corolla-like cup,
three or four inches across. Each scale is now a great white
petal-like leaf, so like a petal that many consider it such ; its
rounded apex blotched and darkened by the discolored rem-
nants of the portion formed during the summer before. In
color these are usually white, sometimes, however, they are
pink and rarely bright red.

Within these four, white, petaloid scales is a close cluster
of tiny flowers which are the real blossoms of the tree. They
are yellowish green, made on a plan of four, four
lobes to the calyx, four petals to the corolla, and
four stamens ; there is, however, but one pistil.

After our great white involucre has performed
its duty, fostered and protected the tiny flowers
until they have reached maturity, it falls, the

Single Flower , , . .....

of Dogwood, blossoms fade and the tiny fruit begins to grow.
Cornus flori- Although there are from ten to thirty blossoms
in each cluster rarely more than five drupes are
matured in any one. Some remain in a state of arrested
development, and cling to the branch small and green all
summer long. The bright, shining, scarlet fruit is beautiful
to look at and is finally eaten by the birds, but they exhaust
other resources first, for under that shining skin is a very

FLOWERING DOGWOOD

Flowering Spray of Flowering Dogwood,

Involucre 3' to 4' across.

DOGWOOD FAMILY

bitter and aromatic flesh \yhich no normal appetite could
crave.

The generic name of this group of trees is easily explained,
for Cornus is derived from cornu, a horn, and finds its justi-
fication in the well known hardness of the wood. Dogwood,
however, has a different origin. Usually, the name of an
animal attached to a plant means that the plant in question
was believed by the early simplers, who as a rule gave the
common names, to be either beneficial or baneful to that

animal ; for example,
sheep sorrel, catnip,
wolfsbane. But dog
and horse in combina-
tion may and often do
mean simply worthless,
or coarse. The early
botanists, like the bib-
lical writers and Shake-
speare, held the dog in
slight repute. It is
therefore questionable
whether the name Dog-
wood was meant to con-
vey contempt for the
tree as worthless for
timber, or whether it
referred to the value of its astringent bark as a cure for the
mange in dogs.

There are more dogwoods in North America than anywhere
else in the world ; sixteen species have been distinguished.
Three of these are trees, two found east of the Rocky Moun-
tains and one upon the Pacific slope. The others are mostly
shrubs. One herb of the family, the Dwarf Cornel, grows in
northern woods. . In the early tertiary epoch Cornus inhab-
ited the arctic regions and in the eocene period, forms now
existing appeared in Europe.

Dogwood, Cornus florida. Fruit

long.

174

ALTERNATE-LEAVED DOGWOOD

C6rnus alternifblia .

Usually a shrub sending up several stems from the ground ; some-
times a tree, flat-topped and bushy, that reaches the height of twen-
ty-five feet. Found along the margins of the forest and by the bor-
ders of trees and swamps ; in moist, well drained soil.

Bark. — Dark reddish brown, with shallow ridges. Branchlets at
first pale reddish green, later dark green.

Wood. — Reddish brown, sapwood pale ; heavy, hard, close-grained.
Sp. gr., 0.6696; weight of cu. ft., 41.73 Ibs.

Winter Buds. — Light chestnut brown, acute. Inner scales enlarge
with the growing shoot and become half an inch long before they
fall.

Leaves. — Alternate, rarely opposite, often clustered at the ends of
the branch, simple, three to five inches long, two to three wide, oval
or ovate, wedge-shaped or rounded at base ; margin is wavy toothed,
slightly reflexed, apex acuminate. They come out of the bud invo-
lute, reddish green above, coated with silvery white tomentum be-
neath, when full grown are bright green above, pale, downy, almost
white beneath. Feather-veined, midrib broad, yellowish, prominent
beneath, with about six pairs of primary veins. In autumn they turn
yellow, or yellow and scarlet. Petioles slender, grooved, hairy, with
clasping bases.

Flowers. — April, May. Perfect, cream color, borne in many-flow-
ered, broad, open cymes, at the end of short lateral branches.

Calyx. — Cup-shaped, obscurely four-toothed, woolly.

Corolla. — Petals four, valvate in bud, inserted on disk ; cream col-
ored, oblong, rounded at apex.

Stamens. — Four, inserted on the disk, alternate with the petals,
exserted ; filaments long, slender ; anthers oblong, introrse, versa-
tile, two-celled ; cells opening longitudinally.

Pistil. — Ovary inferior, two-celled ; style columnar ; stigma capi-
tate.

Fruit. — Drupe, globular, blue-black, one-third inch across, tipped
with remnant of style which rises from a slight depression ; nut obo-
void, many-grooved. October.

This is the only Dogwood with alternate leaves ; all the
others bear their leaves opposite. The tree is very pretty
because of its wide spreading shelving branches and flat-
topped head, and is often found in ornamental grounds. The

DOGWOOD FAMILY

Spray of Alternate-leaved Dogwood, Cornus altermfolia.

Leaves 3' to 5' long, 2' to 3' broad.

TUPELO

flower clusters have no great white involucre as have those
of the Flowering Dogwood, and the fruit is dark purple in-
stead of red and of intensely disagreeable aromatic flavor.

TUPELO. PEPPERIDGE. SOUR GUM

Nyssa sylvdtica.

Nyssa, the name of the nymph who reared Bacchus, was given to
the genus by Linnaeus. Pepperidge is meaningless.

Found in eastern North America. Loves the borders of swamps
and low wet lands. Usually reaches the height of fifty feet and oc-
casionally one hundred ; variable in form. Roots large, striking
deep.

Bark. — Light reddish brown, deeply furrowed and scaly. Branch-
lets at first pale green to orange, sometimes smooth, often downy,
later dark brown.

Wood. — Pale yellow, sapwood white ; heavy, strong, very tough,
hard to split, not durable in contact with the soil. Used for turnery.
Sp. gr., £.63 53 ; weight of cu. ft., 39.59.

Winter Buds. — Dark red, obtuse, one-fourth of an inch long.
Inner scales enlarge with the growing shoot, becoming red before
they fall.

Leaves. — Alternate, often crowded at the end of the lateral
branches, simple, linear, oblong to oval, two to five inches long,
one-half to three inches broad, wedge-shaped or rounded at base,
entire, with margin slightly thickened, acute or acuminate. They
come out of the bud conduplicate, coated beneath with rusty to-
mentum, when full grown are thick, dark green, very shining above,
pale and often hairy beneath. Feather-veined, midrib and primary
veins prominent beneath. In autumn they turn bright scarlet, or
yellow and scarlet. Petioles one-quarter to one-half an inch long,
slender or stout, terete or margined, often red.

Flowers. — May, June, when leaves are half grown. Polygamo-
dioecious, yellowish green, borne on slender downy peduncles.
Staminate in many-flowered heads ; pistillate in two to several-
flowered clusters.

Calyx.— Cup-shaped, five-toothed.

Corolla. — Petals five, imbricate in bud, yellow green, ovate, thick,
slightly spreading, inserted on the margin of the conspicuous disk.

Stamens. — Five to twelve. In staminate flowers exserted, in pis-
tillate short, often wanting.

177

DOGWOOD FAMILY

Fruiting Branch of Tupelo, Nvssa syl-vatica.

Leaves 2' to 5' long.

TUPELO

Pistil. — Ovary inferior, one to two-celled ; style stout, exserted,
reflexed above the middle. Entirely wanting in sterile flower.
Ovules, one in each cell.

Fruit. — Fleshy drupe, one to three from each flower cluster.
Ovoid, two-thirds of an inch long, dark blue, acid. Stone more
or less ridged. October.

The glossy beauty of the Tupelo is undoubtedly the rea-
son why it so often is permitted to escape the levelling axe
and allowed to stand in the fields with the elm, oak, and ma-
ple. In such a situation its contour is as individual as that
of any of its companions.
The stem rises to the sum-
mit of the tree in one ta-
pering unbroken shaft, the
branches come out at right
angles to the trunk and
either extend horizontally
or droop a little, making a
long, narrow, cone- like
head. The spray is fine
and abundant and lies hor-
izontally so that the foli-
age arrangement is not un-
like that of the beech.
The leaves are short peti-
oled and so have little in-

dividual motion, but the Tupel0) Njfssa sylvattca Drupes %, to
branch sways as a whole.
The tree rarely flourishes in exposed positions, it dies at the
top and lives on in a half-hearted way until the friendly axe
ends the unequal struggle. But, allowed to grow in freedom,
sheltered but not crowded, it develops a full round head and
lives to good old age.

The flowers are inconspicuous, but the fruit is quite marked,
dark blue, in clusters of two or three, sour but eagerly sought
by the birds.

Its autumnal coloring is superb ; the foliage becomes one

long>

DOGWOOD FAMILY

glowing mass of scarlet, sometimes dashed with orange. It
is the most fiery and brilliant of all that brilliant group, — the
maple, dogwood, sassafras, liquidambar, and tupelo.

The wood, is noted for the unusual arrangement of its fibres
which instead of running in parallel lines are curiously twisted
and interwoven, so that it is extremely difficult to split.

The tree has different names in different parts of the
country. In the south it is generally called Sour Gum, in
the middle west, Pepperidge, and in New England it retains
its pretty Indian name, Tupelo.

CAPRIFOLIACE.E— HONEYSUCKLE
FAMILY

SWEET VIBURNUM. SHEEPBERRY

Viburnum lentago.

Viburnum is a Latin name of unknown meaning.
Lentago, from lentils, an allusion to its flexible branches.

A small tree about twenty feet in height, with a short trunk,
round-topped head, pendulous, flexible branches. Roots fibrous,
wood ill-smelling. Loves wet soil along the borders of the forest,
often found in fence corners and along roadsides. Ranges from
Quebec to the Saskatchewan River, southward through the northern
states to Georgia and west to Missouri and Nebraska.

Bark. — Reddish brown, divided into small thick plates, sur-
face scaly. Branchlets at first pale green, covered with rusty down,
finally become dark reddish brown, sometimes glaucous.

Wood. — Dark orange brown ; heavy, hard, close-grained. Sp.
gr., 0.7303 ; weight of cu. ft., 45.51 Ibs.

Winter Buds. — Light red, covered with pale scurfy down, pro-
tected by a pair of opposite scales. Flower-bearing buds are three-
quarters of an inch long, obovate, long pointed. Other terminal
buds are acute, one-half an inch long ; lateral buds much smaller.
Bud-scales enlarge with the growing shoot and often become leaf-
like.

Leaves. — Opposite, simple, ovate, two and one-half inches long,
wedge-shaped, rounded or subcordate at base, serrate, acuminate.
They come out of the bud involute, bronze green and shining, hairy
and downy ; when full grown are bright green and shining above,
pale green and marked with tiny black dots beneath. Feather
veined, midrib slender, primary veins connected by conspicuous
veinlets. In autumn they turn a deep red, or red and orange.
Petioles broad, grooved, winged or wingless, an inch to an inch and
a half in length. Stipules tiny, occasional.

r8i

HONEYSUCKLE FAMILY

Flowers. — May, June. Perfect, cream-white, borne in stout,
branched, scurfy, flat, terminal cymes, from three to five inches in
diameter. Bracts and bractlets, triangular, green, caducous.

Calyx. — Tubular, equally five-toothed, persistent.

Corolla. — Rotate, equally five-lobed, imbricate in the bud, cream-
white, one -quarter of an inch across ; lobes acute, and slightly
erose.

Stamens. — Five, inserted on the base of the corolla, alternate with
its lobes, exserted ; filaments slender ; anthers bright yellow, ob-
long, introrse, versatile, two-celled ; cells opening longitudinally.

Pistil. — Ovary inferior, one-celled ; style thick, short, light green ;
stigma broad ; ovules one in each cell.

Fruit. — Fleshy drupe, crowned with the calyx tube, borne on
slender, drooping, red stalks, in few-fruited clusters, oval, flattened,
thick skinned, black or dark blue, glaucous, sweet, and rather juicy.
Stone oblong oval, flattened. September.

The Sheepberry is one of the largest of the Viburnums. It is admired for its
compact habit, its lustrous foliage which insects rarely disfigure, its beautiful
and abundant flowers, its handsome edible fruit and its brilliant autumnal color.
It readily adapts itself to cultivation, and is one of the best of the small trees of
eastern America for the decoration of parks and gardens in all regions of ex-
treme winter cold. It is easily raised from seeds which, like those of the other
American species, do not germinate until the second year after they are planted.

— CHARLES S. SARGENT.

There is a softness and richness about the flowers and foliage of the Sweet
Viburnum which distinguish it above all others of the same genus.

—GEORGE B. EMERSON.

The one that seems to me to bear the most resemblance to the English Way-
faring-tree is the Sweet Viburnum. Many of our shrubs produce more showy
flowers, but few surpass it in the beauty of its fruit. The berries are of the size
of damsons, hanging profusely from the branches like clusters of grapes. They
are dark purple when ripe with a lustre that is not seen in the grape. Just
before they ripen they are crimson, and berries of this color are often blended
with the ripened fruit.

— WILSON FLAGG.

182

SWEET VIBURNUM

Sprays of Sweet Viburnum, Viburnum lentago.

Leaves 2' to 2%' long.

HONEYSUCKLE FAMILY

BLACK HAW. STAG BUSH

Viburnum prunifblium.

Often a shrub, sometimes a small bushy tree with short crooked
trunk and stout spreading branches. Found in the undergrowth of
the forest. Ranges from Connecticut to Georgia westward to Kan-
sas and Indian Territory.

Bark. — Reddish brown, scaly. Branchlets at first red, then green,
finally dark brown tinged with red.

Wood. — Brown tinged with red ; heavy, hard, close-grained. Sp.
gr., 0.8332 ; weight of cu. ft., 51.92 Ibs.

Winter Buds. — Coated with rusty tomentum. Flower-buds ovate,
half an inch long, much larger than the axillary buds. Scales grow
with the growing shoot and sometimes develop into leaf-like bodies.

Leaves. — Opposite, simple, oval, ovate or orbicular, two to three
inches long, wedge-shaped or rounded at base, serrate, acute.
Feather - veined, midrib and primary veins prominent beneath.
They come out of the bud involute, shining, green, tinged with red,
sometimes smooth, or clothed with rusty tomentum ; when full grown
dark green and smooth above, pale, smooth or tomentose beneath.
In autumn the leaves vary from scarlet to a vinous red. Petioles
short, grooved, red, often tomentose, sometimes winged.

Flowers. — May. Perfect, cream-white, borne in
flat-topped cymes three to four inches in diameter.
The pedicels are bibracteolate ; bracts are awl-
shaped, short, reddish, caducous.

Calyx. — Urn-shaped, five-toothed, persistent.

Corolla.— White, five-lobed ; lobes rounded, im-
bricate in bud.

SBI! ck Haw "vf- Stamens.— Five, exserted, inserted on the base of
burnum pruni- the corolla, alternate with the lobes ; filaments slen-
foiium. ' der; anthers pale yellow, oblong, introrse, versatile,

two-celled ; cells opening longitudinally.

Pistil— Ovary inferior, one-celled ; style thick, pale green ; stigma
flat ; ovules one in each cell.

Fruit. — Drupe, .oval, half an inch long, dark blue, with glaucous
bloom. Ripens in October, borne in few-fruited clusters, hangs
until winter, becomes edible after being touched by the frost. Stone
flat and even, broadly oval.

»
184

BLACK HAW

Sprays of Black Haw, Viburnum prunifolium*
3' to 3' long.

ERICACEAE— HEATH FAMILY

MOUNTAIN LAUREL. KALMIA

Kdhnia latifblia.

Kalmia commemorates the labors of Peter Kalm, a friend and pu-
pil of Linnaeus, who travelled in eastern North America in 1753-

In the north a broad dense shrub five to ten feet high with many
crooked branches and a round compact head ; only becoming a tree
on the mountains of North and South Carolina. Ranges from Can-
ada to the Gulf along the highlands and mountains, and westward to
Arkansas. It is tolerant of many locations, loves swamp land or
dry slopes at the borders of the forest, will climb the mountain-side
to an elevation of three thousand feet or more ; does not flourish in
a limestone country. Roots fibrous, matted. Easily cultivated.

Bark. — Dark brown tinged with red, furrowed and scaly. Branch-
lets at first light reddish green, downy, later smooth, red green and
shining, finally all a bright red brown.

Wood. — Brown tinged with red ; heavy, hard, rather brittle, close-
grained. Sp. gr., 0.7160; weight of cu. ft., 44.62 Ibs.

Winter Buds. — Leaf-buds naked, forming in midsummer in the
axils of leaves just below those from which the clusters of flower-buds
are produced by which they are almost covered. The tip of the
branch dies when these axillary buds are formed. Inner scales en-
large with the growing shoot, becoming an inch long before falling.

Leaves. — Alternate, or in pairs, or in threes, simple, persistent,
oblong, three to four inches long, one to one and a half inches wide,
wedge-shaped at base, entire, acute or rounded at apex and tipped
with a callous point. They come out of the bud conduplicate ; each
leaf enclosed by the one directly below it, slightly tinged with pink
and covered with glandular white hairs, when full grown are thick
and rigid, dark shining green above, pale yellow green beneath;
midrib broad, yellow, rounded above and below, veins obscure.

186

MOUNTAIN LAUREL

Fruiting Branch of Mountain Laurel, Kalmia latifoli^i.

Leaves 3' to 4' long, \' to i^' broad.

HEATH FAMILY

They remain green and fall during the second summer. Petioles
short, stout, slightly flattened.

Flowers. — Flowers appear in May or June from buds which are
formed in autumn in the axils of the upper leaves in the form of
slender cones of downy green scales. These buds usually develop
two or more lateral branches, the whole forming a compound many-
flowered corymb four or five inches in diameter and overlapped at
the flowering time by the leafy branches of the year. Pedicels are
red or green, hairy or scurfy and furnished with two bracts at base
and developed from the axils of itfl^'bracts.

Calyx. — Five-parted ; lobes imbricate in bud, narrow, acute, cov-
ered with glutinous hairs. Disk prominent, ten-lobed.

Corolla. — Saucer-shaped, rose colored, white, or pink. Tube short
with ten tiny sacs just below the five-parted limb ; lobes ovate, acute,
imbricate in bud. The border is marked on the inner surface with
a waving rosy line and is slightly purple above the sac. The buds
are ten-ribbed from the sacs to the acute apex of the bud.

Stamens. — Ten, hypogynous, shorter than the corolla, at first held
in the sacs of the corolla ; filaments thread-like ; anthers oblong,
adnate, two-celled ; cells opening by a short longitudinal pore.

Pistil. — Ovary superior, five-celled ; style thread-like, exserted ;
stigma capitate ; ovules many in each cell.

Fruit. — Woody capsule, many seeded, depressed - globular,
slightly five-lobed, five-celled, five-valved. Crowned with the per-
sistent style, surrounded at base by the persistent calyx, covered
with viscid hairs. Seeds oblong.

The blossoms of the Moun-
tain Laurel are equipped with
a most evident device to se-
cure cross-fertilization. Nat-
ure has many such arrange-
ments, but it is not often that
they are so openly displayed.
In this case, however, he who
runs may read. Each flower
has ten stamens and each co-
rolla is provided with ten lit-
tle pockets. When the flower
opens each stamen is found
bent back with its anther
thrust into one of these tiny cavities. In the centre of the
flower lies the nectar, and when the bee comes to get it, he

188

Flower Cluster of Mountain Laurel, Kalmia
latifolia.

RHODODENDRON

brushes against the filaments, which fly up and scatter their
pollen over his body. He leaves on the stigma of the next
flower he visits the pollen he has gathered in the first, and
so on he goes from flower to flower. He probably thinks
that gathering honey is his business, but as a matter of fact
it is a very small part of his duties in the economy of nature.
The Mountain Laurel is one of the most satisfactory
shrubs for lawn or garden. When in full bloom it is of sur-
passing beauty, and its bright evergreen leaves make it con-
spicuous at any time. These leaves are believed to be poi-
sonous to cattle, and the species, Kalmia angustifolia, a low
shrub in pastures, is popularly called Lambkill ; but the
probability is that its noxious qualities have been overrated.
The best observers are inclined to refer what deleterious
qualities there may be to the coarse, resinous character of
the leaves which make them indigestible than to any positive
noxious principle contained in them.

RHODODENDRON. GREAT LAUREL. ROSE BAY

Rhododendron maximum.

In the north a shrub with many divergent stems and contorted
branches, ten or twelve feet tall. Roots fibrous. Distributed from
Nova Scotia to shores of Lake Erie and southward to northern Geor-
gia. Common on the mountains of New York, it becomes abundant
in Virginia, and on the high lands of Tennessee and the Carolinas it
forms dense thickets hundreds of acres in extent. Flourishes in all
soils except those containing lime.

Bark. — Reddish brown, scaly. Branchlets at first green, covered
with red or rusty tomentum, later become reddish brown or gray
tinged with red.

Wood. — Light brown ; heavy, hard, close-grained. Sp. gr.,
0.6303 ; weight of cu. ft., 39.28 Ibs.

Winter Buds. — Leaf buds clearly seen in midsummer, conical,
dark green, axillary or terminal,' on barren shoots covered with
closely imbricated scales. Outer scales persist until shoot is half
grown ; inner scales enlarge with the growing shoot and are carried
up with it. Flower-buds are full grown by September, terminal,
cone-like, an inch and a half long, covered with many imbricated
bracts which contract at the apex into long slender points.

189

HEATH FAMILY

Leaves. — Alternate, usually clustered at the ends of the branches,
persistent, elliptical, oblong, four to ten inches long, wedge-shaped
or rounded at base, entire, thickened slightly, revolute margin,
acute apex. They come out of the bud revolute, pale green, cov-
ered with thick pale tomentum. When full grown are smooth,
thick, leathery, dark green and shining above, pale beneath ; mid-
rib broad, pale, depressed above, prominent beneath ; veinlets ob-
scure. Petioles stout, short, terete.

Flowers. — June, after the shoots of the year from the buds below
the flower-buds are well grown. Borne in umbellate clusters four
or five inches in diameter, perfect, pale rose, or white. Pedicels
viscid ; bracts caducous.

Calyx. — Five-lobed ; lobes rounded, imbricate in bud.

Corolla.— Campanulate, gibbous on the posterior side, hairy in
the throat, pale rose, purplish, or white, five-lobed ; lobes rounded,
veined ; upper lobe marked with yellow greenish spots.

Stamens. — Eight to twelve, white, inserted on a disk ; filaments,
unequal, declined, bearded ; anthers attached on the back, two-
celled ; each cel!4 opening by a terminal pore.

Pistil. — Ovary superior, five-celled, hairy ; style long, white, de-
clined ; stigma red, five-lobed ; ovules many in each cell.

Fruit. — Capsule, surrounded at base by the persistent calyx and
crowned with the style.

The Rhododendron becomes a tree in the south only ; on
the mountains of Pennsylvania, New York, and Virginia it
remains a shrub, but one of the most attractive shrubs in our
flora. Both leaf and flower are matured in midsummer and
they are so large and crown the summit of the stem so per-
fectly that they cannot escape observation.

The Rhododendron, the Kalmia, the Holly, and the Holly-
leaved Mahonia make up our northern list of broad-leaved
evergreens. All other broad-leaved trees of our flora have
become deciduous. Here and there individual oaks retain
their leaves all winter ; so do many young beeches. These
persistent leaves are brown and withered it is true, but they
speak of a time when the trees were evergreen. The Oak
family still retains an evergreen species, and in South
America the forests of Patagonia wave green and dark with
an evergreen beech.

The Rhododendron flourished in the arctic regions in
tertiary times, and traces of several species are found in the
miocene rocks of Europe.

190

RHODODENDRON

Flowering Spray of the Rhododendron, Rhododendron maximum.

Leaves 4' to ic/ long.

HEATH FAMILY

The ancestry and history of our cultivated Rhododendrons
are most admirably given by Professor Sargent in "The Silva
of North America." He says :

The cultivated varieties of Rhododendrons are of garden origin and mixed
blood. These are chiefly of four races, Indian Azaleas, Ghent Azaleas, The Ca-
tawbiense Rhododendrons and Javanese Rhododendrons. The Indian Azaleas
of the garden are improved forms of/?. Indicum, a native of China and Japan
which owes its name to the fact that it was first sent to Europe from India ; in its
native countries it is a variable plant with persistent or deciduous leaves and
small and usually brick-red flowers ; for centuries it has been cultivated by the
Chinese and Japanese who value it as a chief ornament of their gardens, al-
though improvement in the size, form, and coloring of its flowers is due to the
skill of European gardeners, who, especially in Belgium, have devoted much at-
tention to this plant. The race of Ghent Azaleas has been produced by cross-
ing the yellow-flowered Oriental R. flavum with the North American R. calen-
dulaceum R. viscosum and R. nudiflorum, and then by crossing their hybrid
progeny with each other and with the eastern Asiatic R. sinense and later with
the Californian R. occidental and with R. arborescens of the Alleghany Moun-
tains.

The product of these crosses and of years of careful selection carried on
principally in Belgium and England is a race of hardy shrubs with fragrant flow-
ers in colors passing from white through yellow and orange to pink and red.

The Catawbiense Rhododendrons have been produced by crossing R. cataw-
biense, a native of the high summits of the southern Alleghany Mountains
which it sometimes covers with vast thickets, with R. Ponticum, the offspring
being again crossed with R. arbor eum and other Indian species with bright
colored flowers or with the North American R. maximum. The race of Javan-
ese Rhododendrons, conspicuous for their brilliantly colored flowers and their
habit of flowering continuously, has been obtained by English gardeners by in-
terbreeding R. Javanicum and other Malayan species with persistent foliage
and yellow, orange, and scarlet flowers.

SOURWOOD. SORREL-TREE

Oxydendrum arboreum.
Oxydendrum, of Greek derivation, means sour tree.

A slender tree reaching the maximum height of sixty feet, with
slender spreading branches and oblong, round-topped head. Ranges
from Pennsylvania along the Alleghany Mountains to Florida and
Alabama, westward through Ohio to southern Indiana and south-
ward through Arkansas and Louisiana to the coast.

Bark. — Gray with a reddish tinge, deeply furrowed and scaly.
Branchlets at first light yellow green, later reddish brown.

192

SOURWOOD

Sour wood, Oxydmdrum arbor eum.

Leaves 4' to 7' long.

HEATH FAMILY

Wood. — Reddish brown, sapwood paler; heavy, hard, close-
grained, will take a high polish. Sp. gr., 0.7458 ; weight of cu. ft.,
46.48 Ibs.

Winter Buds. — Axillary, minute, dark red, partly
immersed in the bark. Inner scales enlarge when
spring growth begins.

Leaves. — Alternate, four to seven inches long, one
and a half to two and a half inches wide, oblong to
oblanceolate, wedge-shaped at base, serrate, acute
or acuminate. Feather-veined, midrib conspicuous.
They come out of the bud revolute, bronze green and
shining, smooth, when full grown are dark green,
shining above, pale and glaucous below. In autumn
they turn bright scarlet. Petioles long and slender,
stipules wanting. Heavily laden with acid.

Flowers. — June, July. Perfect, cream-white, borne
in terminal panicles of secund racemes seven to eight
inches long ; rachis and short pedicels downy.

Calyx. — Five-parted, persistent ; lobes valvate in
bud.

Corolla. — Ovoid-cylindric, narrowed at the throat,
cream-white, five-toothed.

Stamens. — Ten, inserted on the corolla ; filaments
wider than the anthers ; anthers two-celled ; cells
opening by long chinks.

Pistil. — Ovary superior, ovoid, five-celled ; style
columnar ; stigma simple ; disk ten-toothed, ovules
many.

Fruit. — Capsule, downy, five-valved, five-angled,
tipped by the persistent style, the pedicels curving.

Raceme of flow-
ers of Sour-
wood, Oxy-
dendrum ar-
bortunt.

The Sourwood is perfectly hardy at the north
and is worthy of a place in lawns and parks. Its
late bloom makes it desirable and its autumnal
coloring is particularly beautiful and brilliant.
The leaves are heavily charged with acid, and to
some extent have the poise of those of the
peach.

194

EBENACE^E— EBONY FAMILY

PERSIMMON

Diospyros mrginictna.

Diospyros, of Greek derivation, means the fruit of Jove. Persimmon
is the Indian name.

Small tree varying from thirty to fifty feet in height, short slender
trunk, spreading, often pendulous branches, which form sometimes a
broad and sometimes a narrow round-topped head. Prefers a light,
sandy, well-drained soil, but will grow in rich, southern, bottom lands.
Roots thick, fleshy and stoloniferous. Given to shrubby growth.

Bark. — Dark brown or dark gray, deeply divided into plates
whose surface is scaly. Branchlets slender, zigzag, with thick pith
or large pith cavity ; at first light reddish brown and pubescent.
They vary in color from light brown to ashy gray and finally beoome
reddish brown, the bark somewhat broken by longitudinal fissures.
Astringent and bitter.

Wood. — Very dark ; sapwood yellowish white ; heavy, hard, strong
and very close-grained. Sp. gr., 0.7908 ; weight of cu. ft., 49.28 Ibs.

Winter Buds. — Ovate, acute, one-eighth of an inch long, covered
with thick reddish or purple scales. These scales are sometimes
persistent at the base of the branchlets.

Leaves. — Alternate, simple, four to six inches long, oval, narrowed
or rounded or cordate at base, entire, acute or acuminate. They
come out of the bud revolute, thin, pale, reddish green, downy with
ciliate margins, when full grown are thick, dark green, shining above,
pale and often pubescent beneath. In autumn they sometimes turn
orange or scarlet, sometimes fall without change of color. Midrib
broad and flat, primary veins opposite and conspicuous. Petioles
stout, pubescent, one-half to an inch in length.

Flowers. — May, June, when leaves are half-grown ; dioecious or
rarely polygamous. Staminate flowers borne in two to three-flowered

195

EBONY FAMILY

cymes ; the pedicels downy and bearing two minute bracts. Pistil-
late flowers solitary, usually on separate trees, their pedicels short,
recurved, and bearing two bractlets.

Calyx. — Usually four-lobed, accrescent under the fruit.

Corolla. — Greenish yellow or creamy white, tubular, four-lobed ;
lobes imbricate in bud.

Stamens. — Sixteen, inserted on the corolla, in staminate flowers in
two rows. Filaments short, slender, slightly hairy ; anthers oblong,
introrse, two-celled, cells opening longitudinally. In pistillate flowers
the stamens are eight with aborted anthers, rarely these stamens are
perfect.

Pistil. — Ovary superior, conical, ultimately eight-celled ; styles
four, slender, spreading ; stigma two-lobed.

Fruit. — A juicy berry containing one to eight seeds, crowned with
the remnants of the style and seated in the enlarged calyx ; depressed-
globular, pale orange color, often red-cheeked ; with slight bloom,
turning yellowish brown after freezing. Flesh astringent while green,
sweet and luscious when ripe.

They have a plumb which they call pessemmins, like to a medler, in England,
but of a deeper tawnie cullour ; they grow on a most high tree. When they are
not fully ripe, they are harsh and choakie, and furre in a man's mouth like allam,
howbeit, being taken fully ripe, yt is a reasonable pleasant fruict, somewhat
lushious. I have scene our people put them into their baked and sodden pud-
dings ; there be whose tast allows them to be as pretious as the English apri •
cock ; I confess it is a good kind of horse plumb.

— " The Historic of Travaile into Virginia Brittania."

The longest pole takes the Persimmon. — SOUTHERN PROVERB.

The Persimmon is one of the most interesting of our na-
tive trees. Its habitat is southern, it appears along the coast
from New York to Florida ; west of the Alleghanies it is
found in southern Ohio and along through southeastern
Iowa and southern Missouri ; when it reaches Louisiana,
eastern Kansas and the Indian Territory it becomes a
mighty tree, one hundred and fifteen feet high. It can be
grown in northern Ohio only by the greatest care, and in
southern Ohio its fruit is never edible until after frost.

The peculiar characteristics of its fruit have made the tree
well known. This fruit is a globular berry, from an inch to
an inch and a half in diameter, varying as to seeds, some-
times with eight and sometimes without any. It bears at its
apex the remnants of the styles and sits in the enlarged and

196

PERSIMMON

Persimmon, Diospyros virginiana.

Leaves 4' to 6f long.

£BONY FAMILY

persistent calyx. It ripens in late autumn, is pale orange
with a red cheek, often covered with a slight glaucous bloom.

One of the delights of the natives
in the south is to induce strangers
to taste this fruit, for its bitter as-
tringency is something that can be
known only by experience. The
frost is required to make it edible,
but having been subjected to this
influence it becomes sweet, juicy
and delicious. This peculiar as-
tringency is due to the presence of

Fruit of the Persimmon, Diospy-

ros virginiana. & tannin similar to that of Cinchona.

The fruit is much appreciated in the

southern states and appears abundantly in the markets. It is
much sought by the opossum, who is supposed to fatten upon
it, and the combination of persimmon, opossum and negro
was very common in the slave songs of ante-bellum days.

The tree is greatly inclined to vary in the character and
quality of its fruit, in size this varies from that of a small
cherry to a small apple. Some trees in the south produce
fruit which is delicious without the action of the frost, while
adjoining trees produce fruit that never becomes edible.

Several varieties of the species, Diospyros Kaki have been
cultivated in China and Japan from most ancient times. In-
deed this seems to be the universally cultivated fruit tree of
Japan, is there found in every garden and by every cottage.
The Japanese horticulturists have developed it into almost
as many varieties as our gardeners have made of the apple
tree. Some of these have been introduced into California
and are said to flourish there. The California persimmon
often offered for sale in our northern markets is the product
of this Japanese tree.

The Persimmon .is very common in the southern and Gulf
states, and because of its stoloniferous roots frequently
makes extensive thickets in abandoned fields and along the
roadsides and fences.

198

PERSIMMON

In respect to the power of making heartwood, the Locust
and the Persimmon stand at the extreme opposite ends of
the list. The Locust changes its sapwood into heartwood
almost at once, while the Persimmon rarely develops any
heartwood until it is nearly one hundred years old. This
heartwood is extremely close-grained and almost black.
Really, it is ebony, but our climate is not favorable to its
production. The ebony of commerce is derived from five
different tropical species of the genus, two from India, one
from Africa, one from Malaya and one from Mauritius. The
beautiful variegated coromandel wood is the product of a
species found in Ceylon.

Although Diospyros is now pre-eminently a tropical tree,
enduring but indifferently the cold of the temperate regions,
its fossil remains are found in the miocene rocks of Green-
land and Alaska and in the cretaceous formation of Ne-
braska.

109

STYRACACE^E— STORAX FAMILY

SILVERBELL-TREE

Mohrodendron carolznum. Haltsia tetrdptera.

A tree sometimes eighty or ninety feet in height, with a tall straight
trunk, short stout branches which form a narrow head ; usually much
smaller, often in the north a shrub with stout spreading stems.
Roots are fibrous. Ranges from the mountains of West Virginia
southward to northern Alabama and Florida, westward to southern
Illinois and Arkansas and eastern Texas.

Bark. — Red brown, with broad ridges, and surface scaly. Branch-
lets slender, terete, at first coated with pale tomentum, later become
reddish brown sometimes glaucous. In the second year the bark
darkens and begins to show pale longitudinal fissures.

Wood. — Light brown, sapwood paler brown ; light, soft, close-
grained. Sp. gr. , 0.5628 ; weight of cu. ft., 35.07 Ibs.

Winter Buds. — Dark red, small, obtuse, hairy. Outer scales
drop when spring growth begins ; inner scales lengthen with the
growing shoot, become strap-shaped, bright yellow and sometimes
half an inch long. Flower-buds ovate, obtuse.

Leaves. — Alternate, simple, exstipulate, four to six inches long,
two to three wide, oval or ovate-oblong, wedge-shaped or rounded
at base, obscurely serrate, abruptly contracted into long points at
the apex. Midrib slender, primary veins conspicuous. They come
out of the bud involute, bronze red, hairy above, petiole and lower
surface coated with thick pale tomentum, when full grown bright
green above, paler beneath. In autumn they become pale yellow
and fall late. Petioles short, stout.

Flowers. — May, when leaves are about one-third grown. White,
perfect, about one inch long, borne on short, few-flowered racemes
or fascicles developed from the axils of the previous year's leaves,
subtended by bracts. Pedicles slender, drooping, downy, one to
two inches in length. Bracts obovate, yellow green, caducous.

SILVERBELL-TREE

Fruiting Branch of Silverbell-Tree, Mohrodendron carolinnm.

Leaves 4' to (/ long, 2' to 3' broad.

STORAX FAMILY

Calyx. — Obconical, four-ribbed, adnate to ovary, four-toothed,
tomentose.

Corolla. — Campanulate, epigynous, slightly four-lobed, white.

Stamens. — Eight to sixteen, inserted on the base of the corolla :
filaments flattened ; anthers oblong, adnate or free at base, introrse,
opening longitudinally.

Pistil. — Ovary inferior, four-celled ; style long, simply stigmatic
at apex.

Fruit. — Dry, crowned with the calyx limb and tipped by the per-
sistent style ; ellipsoidal, four-winged ; one and a half to two inches
long, an inch broad, ripens late and remains on branches till mid-
winter.

The Silverbell is a most beautiful ornament for lawn or
park. A native of the mountainous regions of the south it

is perfectly hardy at the
north, although in New
England it keeps its
shrubby form and in the
middle west becomes only
a small tree. It reaches
its greatest size on the
western slopes of the
mountains of North Caro-
lina and Tennessee.

Its flowering time is in
May. The flower buds
have been upon the

branches all winter and just as the leaves have fairly put
forth, the blossoms appear, and clusters of drooping cream-
white bells transform the tree into one great white mass of
which every branch, from highest to lowest, drips blossoms.
The flowering period lasts about three weeks and the Silver-
bell is worthy to be grouped with the June-berry, the Dog-
wood and the Redbud as a flowering tree of rare elegance
and beauty.

The Snowdrop-tree^ Mohrodendron dipterum, is a closely
allied species which has developed on the low lands along
the southern coast. The two have nearly the same range,

202

Flowers of the Silverbell-tree, Mohrodendron
carolinum.

SNOWDROP-TREE

\ V

Flowering Branch of Snowdrop-tree, Mobrodendron diptennu.

Leaves 4' to 5' long.

STORAX FAMILY

except that one prefers the mountains, the other the swamps.
The Snowdrop never becomes a large tree, thirty feet is its
maximum height. The leaves are ovate, when full grown are
four to five inches long, three to four inches wide, with very
conspicuous veins and stout petioles. The flower is cream-
white, the corolla fully an inch long and divided nearly to
the base into spreading divisions about as long as the
stamens, which are usually eight in number. The ovary is
two-celled and like the exserted stigma coated with pale
tomentum. The fruit is oblong, com-
pressed, one and one-half to two
inches long, often an inch wide with
two broad wings and sometimes little,
narrow, supplementary wings between
them. The fruit of the Silverbell has
four wings, whence the early specific
name tetraptera.

The Snowdrop-tree is perfectly
hardy on the southern shore of Lake
Erie where it forms a small tree with
a beautiful, low, broad head. In flower
and foliage and general appearance
the Silverbell and the Snowdrop are
twin sisters and one is not to be pre-
ferred to the other.

The name of the genus has suf-
fered vicissitudes. In the earlier bot-
anies the generic name was Halesia,
but that is now displaced by Mohrodendron. Halesia was a
name given to the genus in 1759 in honor of Stephen Hales, a
botanist of the eighteenth century who wrote one of the first
English books upon vegetable physiology. But it happened
that an explorer in Jamaica four years before had given the
same name to a genus of tropical plants. So that two widely
different genera appeared in the books as Halesia. Such dup-
lication of names became in course of time a source of great
confusion in botanic nomenclature and the American Associa-

Fruit of Snowdrop-tree, Mohro
dendron dipterum.

204

SNOWDROP-TREE

tion for the Advancement of Science decided, if possible, to
bring order out of the perplexing situation. Two rules were
established. One — that every plant should hereafter be
known by the name under which it was first published to the
world, unless that had already been given to another plant ;
and the other — that no later name should stand whether
the first did or did not. Now comes the result. The trop-
ical Halesia was found to be no genus at all but only a spe-
cies which was soon referred to its proper place. There
then remained but one Halesia. But here the second rule
came in, and so our pretty Silverbells lost their generic name.
It was then suggested that they should be named Mohroden-
dron in honor of Dr. Charles Mohr, an eminent botanist of
Alabama. .The suggestion was accepted and so Stephen
Hales was deposed and Dr. Mohr reigns in his stead.

OLEACE.E— OLIVE FAMILY

WHITE ASH

Frdxinus americ&na.

A graceful tree, sometimes one hundred feet in height but usually
seventy or eighty, with straight trunk three feet or more in diameter
at the base. When growing alone it produces a round-topped or a
pyramidal head of great beauty. It is distributed from Nova Scotia
and Minnesota to Florida and Texas, but attains its greatest size on
the bottom lands of the lower Ohio valley. Grows rapidly, prefers
rich moist soil and is recommended for city planting in the eastern
states.

Bark. — Gray, deeply furrowed into narrow flattened ridges, sur-
face scaly. Branchlets stout, terete, at first slightly hairy, dark
green, later become pale orange or ashy gray.

Wood. — Brown, sapwood paler brown ; heavy, tough, elastic, close-
grained. Used in manufacture of furniture, carriages, agricultural
implements, oars. Sp. gr., 0.6543 ; weight of cu. ft., 40.77 Ibs.

Winter Buds.— Brown, nearly black, ovate, obtuse at apex. Ter-
minal buds large, lateral buds smaller. Outer scales fall when spring
growth begins, inner scales enlarge and become green.

Leaves. — Opposite, pinnately compound, eight to twelve inches
long. Leaflets five to nine ; three to five inches long, one to two
broad, petiolate, ovate or oblong-lanceolate, unequally wedge-shaped
or rounded at base, .entire, or obscurely serrate, acuminate or acute.
They come out of the bud conduplicate, thin, smooth or slightly
hairy; when full grown are smooth, dark green, often shining above,
pale, sometimes silvery beneath, often hairy along the veins. Feather-
veined, midrib compressed above, primary veins conspicuous. In
autumn they turn brownish purple fading into yellow. Petioles
stout, smooth, grooved, swollen at the base. Petiolules about one-
fourth of an inch long.

206

WHITE ASH

White Asli, Fraxinus americana.

Leaves 8' to 12' long. Leaflets 3' to 5' long.

OLIVE FAMILY

Flowers. — May, before the leaves ; Dioecious, borne in lengthened
panicles near the end of the branches, in axils of last year's leaves.
Pedicels smooth; bracts varying in size and form.

Calyx. — Campanulate ; in staminate flower slightly
four-lobed ; in pistillate flower deeply lobed.
Corolla. — Wanting.

Stamens. — Two, rarely three ; filaments, short ; an-
thers large, oblong, reddish purple.

Pistil. — Ovary superior, two-celled, oval, contracted
into a long slender style, with two spreading dark pur-
ple stigmatic lobes.

Fruit. — Samaras, borne in crowded drooping pan-
icles six to eight inches long, these hang upon the leafless
branches until midwinter. The samaras vary in length
from one to two inches. Body terete, pointed, margin-
less below, abruptly dilated into a lanceolate or linear
wing, acute or emarginate at apex. August, Septem-
ber. Cotyledons elliptical.

A Staminate
and a Pis-
tillate Flow-
er of White
Ash, Frax-
inus amert-
cana ; en-
larged.

The White Ash is the

most beautiful of all the

American species. Its

common name refers to

the pale sometimes silvery

under surface of the leaf

and its specific name amer-
icana fully distinguishes it as the best
of its type. Its fibrous roots enable
it to flourish in a soil, rich but shal-
low, and oftentimes it may be seen
clinging to rocks where with diffi-
culty it can obtain a foothold. In
the eastern and middle states it has
proved itself an admirable city tree,
but it has not been successfully
planted in the prairie regions of the
west, being unable to withstand the
severe droughts to which they are
subject.

In appearance the young tree is singularly graceful. The
slender grayish trunk, the easy sweep of its branches, the

208

Samaras of White Ash, Fraxituts
americana.

WHITE ASH

slightly drooping poise of its leaves, and the soft, rich, mellow
green of its foliage unite to attract our admiration. Its spray
is clumsy compared with that of the beech and the maple.
Although the leaves are tufted at the end of the spray, the
branches are not bare ; on the contrary such is the flow'ing,
clinging effect of its foliage that the tree may be said in a
peculiar degree to be clothed with its leaves. The trunk rises
more than an average height before it divides and after the
division still retains a central shaft, yet this shaft disappears
from sight as soon as it enters the mass of foliage, and can-
not be traced through the leafy head.

The autumnal tints are most unusual and most beautiful.
Wilson Flagg in " A Year Among the Trees " writes concern-
ing them : " The colors of the ash are quite unique, and dis-
tinguish it from all other trees. Under favorable circum-
stances its coloring process is nearly uniform. It begins with
a general impurpling of the whole mass of foliage nearly at
the same time and the gradual changes remind me of those
observed in sea mosses during the process of bleaching.
There is an invariable succession in these tints as in the
brightening beams of morn. They are first of a dark bronze,
turning from this to a chocolate, then to a violet brown, and
finally to a salmon color or yellow with a shade of lilac.
When the leaves are faded nearly yellow, they are ready to
drop from the tree. It is remarkable that with all this vari-
ety of hues neither crimson nor any shade of scarlet is ever
seen in the ash. It ought to be remembered that the grada-
tions of autumn tints in all cases are in the order of those of
sunrise, from dark to lighter hues, and never the reverse. I
make no reference to the browns of dead leaves which are
darker than yellow or orange, from which they turn. I speak
only of the changes of leaves before they are seared or dry."

Two traditions follow the ash tree. They h^ave come to
us from Europe and their origin seems lost in the mists of
antiquity. One is that no serpent willingly glides beneath
its branches or rests under its shade. This belief was old in
Pliny's time, for he states as a fact that if a serpent be placed

209

OLIVE FAMILY

Trunk of White Ash, Fraxmus americana.

WHITE ASH

near a fire and both surrounded by ashen twigs, the serpent
will sooner run into the fire than pass over the pieces of ash ;
all of which is important if true. The other, refers to the
peculiar liability of the ash to be struck by lightning, and this
belief is embalmed in ancient folk-lore rhymes.

The rustic laborer at the approach of a thunder-storm is
admonished,

Beware the oak it draws the stroke,

Avoid the ash it courts the flash,

Creep under the thorn it will save you from harm.

Indeed, the oak and ash are frequently associated in coun-
try proverbs and rural lore.

If the oak is out before the ash,
'Twill be a summer of wet and splash ;

But if the ash is before the oak
'Twill be a summer of fire and smoke.

The wood of all the ashes is singularly light, strong and
elastic. Prehistoric man seeking an available weapon found
it in an ashen club. Achilles fought with an ashen spear.
Cupid made his arrows first of the ash. The North Ameri-
can Indian could find no better wood in the forest for his
bow or his paddle than the ash. It is the wood most exten-
sively used in the manufacture of agricultural implements.

The tree has many insect enemies. All the species can be
easily raised from seed, which sometimes does not germi-
nate until the second year. Varieties can be multiplied by
grafting.

Fraxinus is of wide distribution and ancient type. A
tree of the temperate zone it occurs in Europe, Asia and
Africa and except in the extreme north is found in all parts
of North America. Its fossil remains prove it to have been
abundant in the tertiary period within the arctic circle.

211

OLIVE FAMILY

RED ASH

Fraxinus pennsylvdnica. Frdxinus pube'scens.

A comparatively small tree, averaging forty feet high with stout
upright branches and irregular head. Ranges from New Brunswick
to Florida, westward to Dakota, Nebraska and Kansas.

Bark. — Brown or ashy gray with numerous longitudinal shallow
furrows, surface scaly. Branchlets slender, terete, at first velvety-
downy, finally they become ashy gray or light brown, frequently
covered with bloom. Inner face of outer bark of the branches red
or cinnamon color.

Wood. — Light brown with lighter sapwood. Heavy, hard, strong
and coarse-grained. Sp. gr., 0.7117; weight of cu. ft., 44.35 Ibs.

Winter Buds. — Leaf-buds small, acute, downy, dark rusty brown.
Outer scales fall when spring growth begins. The inner scales en-
large, become green and often leaf-like.

Leaves. — Opposite, pinnately compound, ten to twelve
inches long. Leaflets seven to nine, petiolate, three to
five inches long, one to one and a half wide, oblong-
lanceolate to ovate, unequally wedge-shaped at base,
serrate, sometimes entire, acuminate or acute. They
come out of the bud conduplicate, coated beneath with
thick white -tomentum, shining and hairy above ; when
full grown are firm, yellow green above, pale and vel-
vety-downy beneath. Feather-veined, midrib and pri-
mary veins conspicuous. In autumn they turn rusty
brown fading into yellow. Petioles swollen at base,
grooved, hairy. Petiolules thick, grooved, downy, about
one-fourth of an inch long.

Flowers. — May, with the leaves. Dioecious, borne in
compact, downy, bracteate panicles, which appear from
the axils of last year's leaves.

Calyx. — In staminate flowers cup-shaped, obscurely
toothed. In pistillate flowers cup-shaped, deeply di-
vided.

Corolla. — Wanting.

Stamens. — Two, sometimes three ; anthers linear-
oblong, pale greenish purple ; filaments short.

Pistil. — Ovary superior, two-celled, contracted into a
lengthened style, divided at apex into two green stig-
matic lobes. Ovules two in each cell.
Fruit. — Samaras, borne in open panicles which remain on the
branches throughout winter. One to two inches long ; body slender,
terete, half surrounded by a thin wing, rounded or acute at the apex.

212

A Staminate
and a Pis-
tillate Flow-
er of Red
Ash, Frax-
inus penn-
sylvanica ;
enlarged.

RED ASH

Red Ash, hraxinus pennsylvanica.
Leaves ic/ to 12' long. Leaflets 3' to 5' long.

OLIVE FAMILY

In general appearance the Red and the White Ash strongly
resemble each other. But the Red Ash is downy on branch-
let and leaf and petiole while the
White Ash is in the main smooth.
Its specific name penmylvanica em-
phasizes the fact that it is a tree of
the North Atlantic states and grows
best east of the Alleghany Moun-
tains. It approaches the Black Ash
in its preference for rich, low, moist
soils, the banks of streams and the
shores of lakes, but unlike it, will
grow in dry localities. The wood is
not so valuable as that of the White
Ash, being brittle instead of elastic.
The Green Ash, F. lanceolata,
which is now considered a variety
of the Red Ash, may be distinguished from it by its dark
and lustrous foliage, by the smoothness of its leaves and
branchlets and the bright green both of the upper and lower
surface of the leaves. In New England there are marked
differences, but west of the Mississippi the two are connected
by intermediate forms which blend them together.

The Green Ash is recommended for parks, streets, and
shelter belts in the western states, largely because of its abil-
ity to flourish in regions of small and uncertain rainfall.

Samaras of Red Ash, Fraxinus
penmylvanica.

BLUE ASH

Frdxinns quadrangul&ta.

A tall slender tree, sometimes one hundred and twenty feet in
height with a trunk two or three feet in diameter, usually much small-
er. Native of the Mississippi valley, nowhere very abundant, prefers
lime-stone soils.

Bark. — Light gray tinged with red, irregularly fissured. Branch-
lets, stout, four-angled, more or less four-winged, at first orange
color with rusty pubescence, later they become light brown or ashy
gray and gradually terete.

214

GREEN ASH

Green Ash, Fraxinus lanceolata.

Reaves 8' to 12' long. Leaflets 3' to 5' long.

OLIVE FAMILY

Ash, Fraxi-
nus quadran-
gulata.

Wood. — Light yellow streaked with brown, sapwood a lighter yel-
low ; heavy, hard, close-grained. Sp. gr., 0.7184; weight of cu. ft.,
44.77 Ibs.

Winter Buds. — Terminal bud one-fourth inch long ; outer scales
fall when spring growth begins, inner scales enlarge and become
green.

Leaves. — Opposite, compound, unequally pinnate, eight to twelve
inches long ; leaflets five to nine, petiolate, three to five inches long,
one to two inches broad, ovate-oblong, unequally round-
ed or wedge-shaped at base, serrate, acuminate. They
come out of the bud conduplicate, coated with brown
tomentum, when full grown are thick, dark green and
shining above, pale, smooth or hairy beneath ; in au-
tumn they turn from brown and purple to yellow.
Petiolules short and grooved.

Flowers. — April, before the leaves. Perfect, borne in
loose panicles developed from buds formed in the axils Flower of Blue
of leaves of the previous year.

Calyx. — Reduced to a ring.
Corolla. — Wanting.

Stamens. — Two, nearly sessile ; anthers dark purple, oblong, ob-
tuse, introrse, two-celled ; cells opening longitudinally.

Pistil. — Ovary superior, two-celled ; style
short with two, pale purple, stigmatic lobes.
Ovules two in each cell.

Fruit. — Samaras, borne in panicles, lin-
ear-oblong, one to two inches long, one-fourth
to one inch wide ; the broad wing surrounding
the long flat body, emarginate, many-rayed.
September, October. Cotyledons elliptical.

The Blue Ash belongs to that group
of trees native to the valley of the Miss-
issippi. Its habitat extends from south-
ern Michigan to central Missouri and
southward to eastern Tennessee and
northern Alabama and through Iowa
and Missouri to northeastern Arkansas.
Some trees like the Rhododendron re-
fuse to grow upon limestone ; the Blue Ash prefers it. Its
chosen locations are rich limestone hills, but it will flourish
in fertile bottom lands.

It may be distinguished among ashes by its peculiar stout,

216

Samaras of Blue Ash, Frax-
inus quadrangulata.

BLUE ASH

Blue Ash, Fraxinus quadrangulata.

Leaves 8' to 12' long. Leaflets 3' to 5' long.

OLIVE FAMILY

four-angled and four-winged branchiets. Its samaras resem-
ble those of the Black Ash, in that the broad wing wholly
surrounds the long flat body. Its wood has the qualities of
the other ashes and probably is not distinguished commer-
cially from them. The tree is recommended for park plant-
ing as it is hardy and grows rapidly, and its foliage is a rich,
dark, shining green.

The inner bark yields a blue color to water, whence its
common name.

BLACK ASH
Frdxinus nlgra. Frdxinus sambucifblia.

A tall, slender tree, with narrow head of slender upright branches.
Loves deep cold swamps and muddy banks of streams. Is distrib-
uted from Newfoundland to Manitoba, southward to Delaware and
Virginia.

Bark. — Granite gray, fissured, surface scaly. Branchiets stout,
terete, dark green at first, later ashy gray or yellowish, finally dark
gray.

Wood. — Dark brown, sapwood light brown or white ; heavy,
rather soft, tough, coarse-grained. Used for barrel hoops, baskets,
cabinetwork and interior of houses. Sp. gr., 0.6318 ; weight of cu.
ft- 39-37 Ibs.

Winter Buds. — Dark, almost black, ovate, acute at apex ; outer
scales fall when spring growth begins, inner scales enlarge and be'
come green.

Leaves. — Opposite, pinnately compound, twelve to sixteen inches
long. Leaflets seven to eleven, sessile except the terminal, oblong
or oblong-lanceolate, three to five inches long, one to two inches
wide, unequally wedge-shaped or rounded at base, slightly serrate,
acute or acuminate. They come out of the bud conduplicate,
downy with rusty hairs, when full grown dark green, smooth above,
paler beneath and smooth, except the midrib which is hairy. Feather-
veined, midrib and primary veins conspicuous. In autumn they
turn rusty brown and fall early. Petioles smooth, swollen at base,
flattened or grooved.

Flowers. — May, before the leaves. Polygamous, without calyx or
corolla. Borne in lengthened panicles four or five inches long which
are opposite, single or in threes, in the axils of last year's leaves,
many-bracted. Staminate flowers are borne on separate trees or
mixed with perfect flowers on trees which produce pistillate ones,

218

BLACK ASH

Black Ash, Fraxiiius nigra.

Leaves 12' to 16' long. Leaflets 3' to 5' long.

OLIVE FAMILY

A Staminate and a Pis-
tillate Flower of
Black Ash, Fraxinus
nigra : enlarged.

Stamens. — Two, anthers large, oblong, dark purple, attached to
the back of short filaments.

Pistil. — Ovary superior, two-celled, narrowed
into a long slender style, deeply divided at the
apex into two broad, purple stigmas. Ovules two
in each cell.

Fruit. — Samaras, borne in panicles. Oblong-
linear, an inch to an inch and a half long. Body
surrounded by the wing, which is emarginate at
apex. Seed solitary by abortion. September,
October. Cotyledons elliptical.

The Black Ash is the slenderest of our
forest trees, often reaching the height of
seventy feet with a trunk whose diameter
scarcely exceeds a foot. It is the most
northern of American ashes flourishing on
the shores of. the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

Its inflorescence is polygamous, that is,
staminate, pistillate, and perfect flowers may
all be found on a single tree, although usual-
ly the staminate flowers are borne on a sep-
arate tree. In this species the flower is reduced to its lowest
terms. Both calyx and corolla are wanting.
Many flowers consist simply of two stamens
sitting on the top of the flower stem, others
are only a pistil.

The Black Ash may be known among
other ashes by the fact that its leaflets are
sessile with the exception of the terminal
one. Its samaras differ from those of the
White Ash in that the wing entirely sur-
rounds the body. The taste of the seed is
aromatic.

The wood is remarkable for its toughness
and elasticity. The Indians especially used
it in the manufacture of baskets, preferring
it to every other. The trunk is often disfig-
ured by knobs which are sometimes taken off and made into
bowls which when polished show very odd undulations of

220

Samaras of Black Ash,
Fraxinus nigra.

BLACK ASH

fibre. The Black Ash does not transplant well and will
flourish only in swampy places. It is considered a tree of
slow growth and is short-lived.

YGGDRASIL, THE TREE OF THE UNIVERSE

It is not within the scope of this volume to enter into any
extended discussion of the curious myths and traditions that
among many nations gravely ascribe the descent of the hu-
man race from trees. The mystical " tree of life " was the
date palm, the fig, the pine, the cedar, the oak, the elm, the
ash — varying with the country and the vegetation.

Virgil in the "^Eneid," Book VIII., says :

These woods were first the seat of sylvan powers,
Of nymphs and fauns and savage men who took
Their birth from trunks of trees and stubborn oaks.

Juvenal in the Sixth Satire tells us :

For when the world was new the race that broke

Unfathered, from the soil or opening oak,
Lived most unlike the men of later times.

In the " Odyssey," the disguised hero is asked to state his
pedigree, since he must necessarily have had one. " For," says
his questioner, "toelike you are not come of the oak, told of
in old times, nor of the rock."

The most remarkable of all these fables and the best
known is that of the Tree of the Universe, in the Norse
mythology, around which have clustered as many theories as
legends without any definite solution of the subject.

Yggdrasil, the Tree of the Universe, is generally conceded
to have been an ash tree. In the old legend it springs from
the body of Ymir the earth, its trunk rises to the sky, its
branches overshadow the earth and support the heavens.
Three roots sustain and nourish this mighty tree. One ex-
tends into Asgard the jjome of the Gods ; beneath it bubbles
a fountain with whose waters the tree is sprinkled. By its

221

OLIVE FAMILY

side is a hall where dwell three maidens, Norns — Urd the
past, Verdandi the present, Skuld the future — the Scandina-
vian Fates who direct and sway the destinies of men.

The second root reaches Jotunheim the abode of the
Giants and by its side is Mimir's spring within whose depths
wit and knowledge lie hidden ; the third strikes deep into
Niflheim the region of darkness and cold. The spring here
feeds the serpent Nithhoggr, Darkness, which perpetually
gnaws at the root.

The leaves of the tree drop honey, and upon the topmost
branch sits an eagle who observes all that goes on in the
world. A squirrel, Ratatoskr, runs up and down along the
trunk and branches bearing messages between the eagle
and the serpent and stirring up strife between them. Four
stags run back and forth among the branches and bite the
buds ; these are the four winds.

Such is the fantastic story of the ash tree, for which there
is neither explanation nor reasonable interpretation.

FRINGE-TREE

Chiondnthus virginica.

Chionanthus is of Greek derivation and refers to the snow white
flowers of the species.

A slender tree twenty or thirty feet high ; at the north a shrub of
several, thick, spreading stems. Commonly planted on lawns and
parks. Ornamental. Roots fibrous. Ranges from Pennsylvania
to Florida, westward through the Gulf states to Texas, Arkansas and
Kansas.

Bark, — Brown, tinged with red, scaly. Branchlets terete, light
green, downy, at first; later they become light brown or orange
color.

Wood. — Light brown, sapwood paler brown; heavy, hard, close-
grained.

Winter Buds. — Light brown, ovate, acute, one-eighth of an inch
long. Outer scales fall when spring growth begins, inner scales en-
large with the growing shoot and become leaf-like, an inch or more
in length.

222

FRINGE-TREE

Flowering Brunch of Fringe-tree, Chionanth

Leaves 4' to 8' long, i' to 4' broad.

DLIVE FAMILY

Leaves. — Opposite, simple, ovate or oblong, four to eight inches
long, one to four inches broad, wedge-shaped at base, entire with
undulate margins, acuminate, acute or rounded at apex. Feather-
veined, midrib stout, primary veins conspicuous. They come out
of the bud conduplicate, yellow green and shining above, downy
beneath ; when full grown are dark green above, pale below and
smooth except the midrib and veins which are hairy. In autumn
they turn a clear yellow and fall early. Petiole stout, hairy.

Flowers. — May, June ; when leaves are one-third grown. Perfect,
white, slightly fragrant, borne in loose, downy, drooping, bracted
panicles, four to six inches long, from lateral buds ; peduncles three-
flowered.

Calyx. — Four-parted, small, smooth, persistent.

Corolla. — An inch long, white, dotted
on inner surface with purple spots,
deeply divided into four, varying to five
and six, long and narrow lobes barely
united at base ; conduplicate, valvate
in bud.

Stamens. — Two, inserted on the base
of the corolla, extrorse ; filaments short ;
anthers pale yellow, ovate, two-celled.
Pistil. — Ovary superior, two-celled ;
style short ; stigma fleshy, two-lobed.

Fruit. — Drupe, borne in loose clus-
ters, on which the bracts have become
leaf-like. Oval or oblong, dark blue,
glaucous, one-half to three-fourths of an
inch long, surrounded at base by the
persistent calyx and tipped with rem-
nants of the style. Skin thick ; flesh
dry ; stone thin.

Fringe-tree, Chionanthus vtrginica.
Drupes l/2' to %' long.

The Fringe-tree is one of the most beautiful of our orna-
mental shrubs and although a native of the south it is hardy
at the north and is extensively planted. It prefers a moist
soil and a sheltered situation and may be propagated by
grafting on the ash.

The singular appearance of its snow white flowers which
look like a fringe, give to it the common name. These
flowers appear abundantly when the leaves are half grown
and the foliage' mass becomes a combination of soft green
and pure white, which is most beautiful.

224

BIGNONIACE^E— BIGNONIA FAMILY

CATALPA. INDIAN BEAN

Catdlpa Catdlpa. Catdlpa bignonioldes.

A tree with a short thick trunk, long and straggling branches
which form a broad and irregular head. Loves river banks and
moist shady places. Roots fibrous, branches brittle. Its juices are
watery and contain a bitter principle.

Bark. — Light brown tinged with red. Branchlets forking regu-
larly by pairs, at first green, shaded with purple and slightly hairy,
later gray or yellowish brown, finally reddish brown. Contains
tannin.

Wood. — Light brown, sapvvood nearly white ; light, soft, coarse-
grained and durable in contact with the soil.

Winter Buds. — No terminal bud, uppermost bud is axillary.
Minute, globular, deep in the bark. Outer scales fall when spring
growth begins, inner scales enlarge with the growing shoot, become
green, hairy and sometimes two inches long.

Leaves. — Opposite, or in threes, simple, six to ten inches long,
four to five broad. Broadly ovate, cordate at base, entire, some-
times wavy, acute or acuminate. Feather-veined, midrib and prima-
ry veins prominent. Clusters of dark glands, which secrete nectar
are found in the axils of the primary veins. They come out of the
bud involute, purplish, when full grown are bright green, smooth
above, pale green, and downy beneath. When bruised they give a
disagreeable odor. They turn dark and fall after the first severe
frost. Petioles stout, terete, long.

Flowers.— June, July. Perfect, white, borne in many-flowered
thyrsoid panicles, eight to ten inches long. Pedicels slender,
downy.

Calyx. —Globular and pointed in the bud; finally splitting into
two, broadly ovate, entire lobes, green or light purple.

225

BIGNONIA FAMILY

Corolla. — Campanulate, tube swollen, slightly oblique, two-lipped,
five-lobed, the two lobes above smaller than the three below, im-
bricate in bud ; limb spreading, undulate, when fully expanded is
an inch and a half wide and nearly two inches long, white, marked
on the inner surface with two rows of yellow blotches and in the
throat on the lower lobes with purple spots.

Stamens. — Two, rarely four, inserted near the base of the corolla,
introrse, slightly exserted ; anthers oblong, two-celled, opening
longitudinally ; filaments flattened, thread-like. Sterile filaments
three, inserted near base of corolla, often rudimentary.

Pistil. — Ovary superior, two-celled ; style long, thread-like, with
a two -lipped stigma. Ovules numerous.

Fruit. — Long slender capsule, nearly cylindrical, two-celled,
partition at right angles to the valves, Six to twenty inches long,
brown ; hangs on the tree all winter, splitting before it falls. Seeds
an inch long, one-fourth of an inch wide, silvery gray, winged on
each side and ends of wings fringed.

The Catalpa shares with the Horse-chestnut the distinc-
tion of bearing the most showy flowers of all our ornamental
trees. Its value in this respect has long been recognized
and to-day it holds an assured place in the parks and gardens
of all temperate countries.

In the northern states it is a late bloomer, putting forth
great panicles of white flowers the last of June or early in
July when the flowers of other trees have mostly faded.
These cover the tree so thickly as almost to conceal the
full grown leaves. The general effect of the flower cluster is
a pure white, but the individual corolla is spotted with purple
and gold, and some of these spots are arranged in lines along
a ridge, so as to lead directly to the honey sweets within. A
single flower when fully expanded is two inches long and an
inch and a half wide. It is two-lipped and the lips are lobed,
two lobes above and three below, as is not uncommon with
such corollas. The flower is perfect, possessing both stamens
and pistils ; nevertheless, the law of elimination is at work and
of the five stamens that we should expect to find, three have
aborted, ceased to bear anthers and have become filaments
simply. Then, too, the flowers refuse to be self-fertilized.
Each flower has its own stamens and its own stigma and the
natural conclusion is that the home pollen should fall upon

226

CATALPA

Flowering Spray of Catalpa.

Leaves & to ic/ long, 4' to & broad.

BIGNONIA FAMILY

the stigma. But this is not the case. The lobes of the
stigma remain resolutely closed until after the anthers have
opened and discharged their pollen ; after they have withered
and become effete then the stigma opens and invites the
wandering bee. There is nothing more curious in the entire
field of biology than this refusal of self-fertilization on the
part of so many flowers. The entire Pink family behave in
this way.

The leaves appear rather late, are large, heart-shaped,
bright green and as they are full grown before the flower
clusters open, add much to the beauty of the blossoming
tree. They secrete nectar, a most unusual proceeding for
leaves, by means of groups of tiny glands in the axils of the
primary veins.

The fruit is a long, slender pod packed full of light silvery
seeds, each provided with a pair of pretty fringed wings to
bear it afloat by wind or water in search of a home. These
pods hang pendent upon the branches for the greater part of
the winter, sometimes far into the spring.

The Catalpa is undoubtedly a southern tree. It seems that
Europeans first observed it growing in the fields of the Cher-
okee Indians, by whom it was called Catalpa. But its vital-
ity enables it to flourish at the north and the land of its
nativity is somewhat in doubt. The tree is fairly free from
fungal diseases and has few insect enemies. It is easily
raised from seeds which germinate early in the first season.
It also multiplies readily from cuttings.

Catalapa speciosa is a western species that has come into
notice later than C. catalpa ; it is largely planted throughout
the same range and is quite as satisfactory a tree for lawns
and parks. The difference between them is very slight, and it
may be that C. speciosa will some day be considered simply a
variety of the other.

The genus is now found only in the United States, West
Indies and China. It was common in Europe during the
tertiary period and its fossil remains have been discovered
in the miocene rocks of the Yellowstone.

228

LAURACE.E— LAUREL FAMILY

SASSAFRAS

Sassafras sassafras.

Usually from thirty to fifty feet high, sometimes one hundred,
with a stout trunk and flat-topped head ; often much smaller and
shrubby. Thick fleshy roots penetrate deep into the ground and
send out abundance of suckers, making thickets. Prefers rich sandy
loam. Grows rapidly. Ranges from Massachusetts to Florida and
west throughout the Mississippi valley.

Bark. — Thick, dark, red brown, deeply and irregularly divided into
broad flat ridges, separating into thick appressed scales on the sur-
face. Branchlets bright yellow green, finally reddish brown, and in
two or three years begin to show shallow fissures. Aromatic and
spicy. Twigs mucilaginous.

Wood. — Dull orange brown ; soft, weak, coarse-grained, brittle,
though durable in contact with the soil. Used for posts and rails,
small boats and ox-yokes.

Winter Buds. — Flower-buds terminal, ovate, acute ; axillary buds
small. The scales enlarge with the growing shoot, the inner be-
coming leaf-like before falling.

Leaves. — Alternate, ovate or obovate, four to six inches long, en-
tire or one to three-lobed, lobes broadly ovate, divided by broad
sinuses ; margins entire. They come out of the bud involute, red-
dish green ; when full grown are smooth, dull dark green above,
paler beneath. In autumn they turn to shades of yellow, tinged
with red. Petioles slender, slightly grooved.

Flowers. — May, with the first unfolding of the leaves. Dioecious,
rarely perfect, greenish yellow, borne in loose, drooping, few-
flowered racemes ; involucre of scaly bracts.

Calyx. — Pale yellow green, six-lobed, spreading, imbricate in
bud.

Corolla. — Wanting.

229

LAUREL FAMILY

Stamens. — In sterile flowers nine, inserted on the base of the
calyx in three rows, the inner row with a pair of conspicuous glands
at the base of each; fertile flowers have six short rudimentary
stamens. Anthers innate, oblong, four-celled, opening by four up-
lifting valves.

Pistil. — Ovary superior, nearly sessile in the tube of the calyx,
simple, one-celled ; style one ; ovule one, suspended from the apex
of the cell.

Fruit. — Drupe, oblong, dark blue, shining, surrounded at the
base by the enlarged and thickened scarlet calyx raised on a club-
shaped rather fleshy pedicel. Cotyledons thick, fleshy.

The Sassafras often grows in dense thickets. A single tree,
if allowed to spread unrestrained, will soon be surrounded
by a numerous and flourishing family, as its stoloniferous
roots extend in every direction and send up multitudes of
shoots. When full grown it is rather picturesque, as its
branches are usually irregular and the head partially flattened,
It has the peculiarity of looking older than it really is because
of its rough, deeply furrowed, gray bark and rather warped
stem. This cracking of the bark is characteristic, it begins
on stems two or three years old, and continues through life.

A peculiar foliage marks the tree
in every situation, for it enjoys the
distinction of bearing leaves of three
different forms on the same branch ;
a distinction among our common de-
ciduous trees shared only with the
Mulberry. Those leaves are oval, or
oval with a lobe at one side making
what are called " mittens," or regu-
larly three-lobed. There seems to be
no known law which determines the
order of their appearance, but the

Fruit of the Sassafras. matUre trCG bearS mOI"e OVal leaVeS

than lobed ones.

The Sassafras • will grow in any loose moist soil, and es-
pecially delights in neglected and abandoned fields.

The fruit is a beautiful, dark blue, shining berry set on a
bright red, club-shaped, fleshy stem. The birds love it and

230

SASSAFRAS

Sassafras.

Leaves 4' to 6' long.

SASSAFRAS

so eager are they that it is often years before one succeeds
in obtaining a perfectly mature specimen. Wings outclass
hands when the top of a tree is in question.

The wood, bark, and roots are all aromatic. The flavor
resides in an essential oil which is especially abundant in
the bark of the root. At one time Sassafras enjoyed a great
reputation in the Materia medica, but it is now valued chiefly
for its power to improve the flavor of other medicines.

Sassafras is now native only to eastern North America.
Its remains are found in the arctic regions and traces of it
appear in the cretaceous rocks of the extreme west, it also
formerly existed in Europe.

.132

ULMACE^E— ELM FAMILY

WHITE ELM. AMERICAN ELM. WATER ELM

Ulmus americclna.

Ulmus is the ancient name of the elm tree and was adopted by
Linnaeus as the name of the genus.

Abundant in moist woods, throughout the entire north, especially
in rich alluvial soil. Varies from sixty to one hundred and twenty
feet in height, the trunk sturdy and usually dividing at one-third the
height of the tree into two to five branches. Grows rapidly, is long
lived. Roots fibrous and run near the surface of the ground, often
rise above it.

Bark. — Dark gray, rough, with longitudinal and not very closely
idherent ridges. Branchlets light green, downy, later become red-
dish brown, smooth and finally ashy gray.

Wood. — Reddish brown, sap wood pale ; heavy, hard, strong,
tough, difficult to split, rather coarse-grained ; will take no polish ;
ised for hubs of wheels, saddletrees and cooperage. Sp. gr.,
(.6506 ; weight of cu. ft., 40.55 Ibs.

Winter Buds. — Flower-buds larger than leaf buds, produced in
the axils of the leaves of the previous year. Leaf-buds brown, one-
eighth of an inch long, ovate, acute, slightly flattened ; scales
smooth. No terminal bud is formed. When spring growth begins
the inner scales enlarge.

Leaves. — Alternate, four to six inches long, two to three inches
broad, obovate-oblong, or oval, unequal at base, doubly serrate,
acuminate. Feather-veined, midvein and primary veins conspicu-
ous. They come out of the bud conduplicate, downy, pale green ;
when full grown are dark green, rough above, pale green and downy
or smooth beneath. In autumn they turn brown or golden yellow.
Petioles short ; stipules fugacious.

Flowers. — March, April, before the leaves. Perfect, small, brown-
ish yellow or reddish, borne in loose umbel-like clusters, on slender
pedicels, on last year's wood.

233

ELM FAMILY

Calyx. — Campanulate, four tonine-lobed, hairy, green, tinged with
red, becoming brown in fading ; lobes imbricate in bud.

Corolla. — Wanting.

Stamens. — Four to nine or as many as the calyx lobes and oppo-
site to them, exserted ; filaments long, slender ; anthers bright red,
two-celled, cells opening longitudinally ; pollen shed before the
stigmas mature.

Pistil. — Ovary superior, two-celled; styles two, light green;
ovules solitary.

Fruit. — Samaras, winged all round, maturing as the leaves appear
and clinging to the branch in clusters, ovate, one-seeded, one-half
inch long, two-beaked, sharp points incurved and closing the notch,
green, smooth on faces, densely ciliate at margins. Cotyledons flat,
fleshy.

Who knows not the ' vine prop ' elm, with its lofty grace and slight bene-
dictive droop, the oriole's nest still swinging from the end of some branch?

— EDITH THOMAS.

White Elm and Silver Maple are the first trees to accept
the challenge of March that spring has come, and they seal

their acceptance with flowers not
leaves, for the law of the wild
wood is that forest trees shall
produce flowers before leaves.
The flower-buds are usually borne

Flowering Spray of White Elm, Ulmus americana.

on the topmost branches of an elm tree, and even in February
they respond to the kindly influence of a few warm days by
becoming swollen and shining. When March stops for a day
or two to take his breath and the sun shines and the warm
air comes up from the south, these swollen buds shake off
their brown scales and come out as little clusters of eight to

234

WHITE ELM

White Elm, Ulmus americana.
Leaves 4' to (/ long, 2' to 3' broad.

ELM FAMILY

twenty, tiny, reddish brown blossoms. In cities where the
elm is a common tree the sidewalks are strewn with these
discarded bud scales, but the flowers are so small, so
brown and so high that the world walks by, thinking,
"The elm never blossoms." Six weeks later the same
sidewalks are covered with little, flat, green samaras half
an inch long, often as unnoticed as the blossoms which
preceded them.

The typical outline form of the elm is triangular, though it
is inclined to vary with location and opportunity. Probably
the best description of the varied forms of the elm is found
in the report of George B. Emerson upon the Trees and
Shrubs of Massachusetts. He says : " From a root, which
in old trees, spreads much above the surface of the ground,
the trunk rises to a considerable height in a single stem.
Here it usually divides into two or three principal branches,
which go off by a gradual and easy curve. These stretch
upward and outward with an airy sweep — become horizon-
tal, the extreme branchlets and sometimes the extreme half
of the limb, pendent, forming a light and regular arch."

"The American elm affects many different shapes, all of
them beautiful. Of these, three are most striking and dis-
tinct. The tall Etruscan vase is formed by four or five
limbs, separating at twenty or thirty feet from the ground,
going up with a gradual divergency to sixty or seventy, and
there bending rapidly outward, forming a flat top with a pen-
dent border. The single or compound plume is represented
by trees stretching up in single stem, or two or three paral-
lel limbs to the height of seventy or even a hundred feet, and
spreading out in one or two light feathery plumes. The elm
often assumes a character akin to that of the oak ; that is
when it has been transplanted young from an open situation
and allowed always to remain by itself. It is then a broad
round-headed tree."

The leaves come out of the bud a pale tender green and
folded like little fans. They appear late because the flower-
ing and fruiting is virtually over before their arrival. Cling-

236

WHITE ELM

White Elm, Ultnus

ELM FAMILY

ing closely to the twig as they do they have little independent
motion but move with the branch. An elm leaf can be easily
recognized by its unequal base, the part of the leaf on one
side of the midrib is considerably larger than that upon the

other. Although a fa-
vorite city shade tree
the elm does not thrive
where soft coal is habit-
ually burned. The rough
leaves catch the soot
which sticks fast, seems
to smother the trees, and
in time destroys them.
One who recognizes it

Unfolding Leaves of White Elm, Ulmus amcricana^ onlY in leaf d°es "°t

really know a deciduous

tree, for it is when stripped like an athlete for its contest
with the winds and storms of winter, that it discloses the
secret of its grace, its weakness, or its strength. No tree
endures this test better than the elm and its typical form is
so marked that it can be easily recognized even at night
when outlined against the sky.

A peculiar characteristic of the wood is the wonderful
twisting and interlacing of its fibres which give it an exceed-
ing toughness. A characteristic immortalized by Oliver
Wendell Holmes in "The Wonderful One-Hoss Shay."

The hubs of logs from the '' Settler's ellum,"
Last of its timber, — they couldn't sell 'em,
Never an axe had seen their chips,
And the wedges flew from between their lips,
Their blunt ends frizzled like celery-tips.

The Elms are an ancient race ; traces of them exist in
the tertiary rocks of Greenland, and in the miocene pe-
riod they flourished in Europe, western Asia and North
America.

A few elm trees have become historic, either because of

238

SLIPPERY ELM

Slippery Elm, Ulmus pubescens.

Leaves 5' to 7' long.

ELM FAMILY

great size, or because of some great event occurring beneath
their branches. For example, the Washington Elm in Cam-
bridge, Massachusetts, is so called
because beneath its shade Gen-
eral Washington is said to have
first drawn his sword, on taking
command of the American army.
The famous treaty of William
Penn with the Indians was made
beneath the branches of an enor-
mous elm, which remained stand-
ing in the suburbs of Philadel-

White Elm, Ulmu^ncruana. Samar-^ ^j ^^ when ^ ^

blown down. Its site is marked

by a marble column and its age was estimated to be two
hundred and thirty-three years.

SLIPPERY ELM. RED ELM

Ulmus pubdscens — Ulmtis ftilva.

Fulva, reddish yellow, refers to the color of the wood. Pubescens,
downy. Slippery characterizes the inner bark.

Common. Sixty to seventy feet in height, trunk sometimes two
feet in diameter and spreading branches which form a broad, open,
flat- topped head. Prefers banks of streams and fertile hillsides ;
roots fibrous. Ranges from St. Lawrence River to Florida and
throughout the entire Mississippi valley.

Bark. — Dark brown tinged with red, divided by shallow fissures,
and covered with large loose plates. Branchlets stout, bright green,
later light brown, finally dark gray or brown.

Wood. — Dark brown or red ; heavy, hard, close-grained, strong,
tough, durable in contact with the soil, and easy to split while green.
When boiled or steamed it becomes very flexible. Used for fence
posts, railway ties, sills of buildings, agricultural implements. Sp.
gr., 0.6956 ; weight of cu. ft., 43.35 Ibs.

Winter Buds. — Leaf-buds ovate, rather obtuse, one-fourth of an
inch long, covered with tawny hairs. Flower-buds larger than leaf-
buds. Inner scales enlarge with the growing shoot and become
green, obtuse, hairy, the innermost serve as stipules for a time.

240

SLIPPERY ELM

Leaves. — Alternate, ovate-oblong, five to seven inches long,
rounded at the base on one side and oblique on the other, coarsely
and doubly serrate, acute or acuminate. Feather-veined, midrib
very prominent beneath. They come out of the bud conduplicate,
thin, light green ; when full grown they are thick, firm, dark green,
rough above, paler and somewhat rough beneath. In autumn they
turn to a dull yellow. Petioles short, hairy ; stipules caducous..

Flowers. — March, April, before the leaves. Perfect, borne in
clusters on short pedicles produced from the axils of minute green
bracts.

Calyx. — Campanulate, five to nine-lobed, green, hairy ; lobes
imbricate in bud.

Corolla. — Wanting.

Stamens. — Five to nine, exserted, light yellow ; filaments slender ;
anthers dark red, do not shed their pollen until the stigmas have
begun to wither, extrorse, two-celled ; cells opening longitudinally.

Pistil. — Ovary superior, one-celled by abortion ; stigmas two, red-
dish purple ; ovules solitary.

Fruit. — Samaras, winged all round, maturing when leaves are half
grown, semi-orbicular, one-half to three-fourths of an inch broad,
hairy on the faces but naked at the margins ; emarginate with re-
mains of both stigmas at the apex. Wing is broad and thin and
marked by the dark line of union of the two carpels.

Although the White Elm and the Slippery Elm look very
much alike there are several points of difference which make it
fairly easy to distinguish them. The White Elm varies greatly
in the size of its leaves. There
may be individual White Elms
whose leaves are larger than in-
dividual Slippery Elms but upon
the whole, given the same con-
ditions, the foliage mass of a
Slippery Elm is made up of
larger leaves than that of the
White Elm. The leaves are

much rougher, they are rough

Samaras %' to % long.

whichever way you rub them, i mm

' •>

while the White Elm leaves are
smooth one way and rough the other. The buds are hairy,
those of the White Elm smooth. In the spring the leaves
of the Slippery Elm come out protected and adorned with

241

ELM FAMILY

many bud scales, there are perhaps twelve all told and the
inner ones become, half an inch long, a quarter of an inch
wide, pale green, rounded, and tipped with rusty hairs. The
enlarged bud scales of the White Elm are bright green,
smooth, sometimes an inch long, narrow and acute.

The samaras are larger than those of the White Elm and
more orbicular. They ripen when the leaves are half grown,
those of the White Elm ripen as the leaves unfold. The seed
cavity is coated with thick brown tomentum. The margins
are naked, those of the White Elm ciliate. The character of
the inner bark is unmistakable. It is thick, fragrant, muci-
laginous, demulcent, and nutritious. The water in which the
bark has been soaked is a grateful drink for one suffering
from affections of the throat and lungs. The Indians of New
York call the tree, Oo-hoosk-ah — "It slips."

CORK ELM. ROCK ELM

Ulntus raccmbsa.

Eighty to one hundred feet in height, sometimes three feet in
diameter, often free of branches for sixty feet; with short spreading
limbs at the summit which form a round-topped head. Grows on
dry gravelly uplands, rocky slopes and river cliffs. Roots fibrous.
Ranges from Vermont to New York, from southern Michigan and
Wisconsin to northeastern Nebraska, southeastern Missouri and
middle Tennessee.

Bark. — Gray tinged with red, divided by wide fissures into broad
ridges, which are broken at the surface into large scales. Branch-
lets light brown, downy, later dark brown or ashy gray. Corky ir-
regular ridges appear on branches two years old.

Wood. — Pale brown tinged with red ; heavy, hard, close-grained,
strong and tough, takes a fine polish. Used for agricultural imple-
ments, cabinetwork, railway ties, bridge timbers, and sills of build-
ings. Sp. gr., 0.7263 ; weight of cu. ft., 45.26 Ibs.

Winter Buds. — Leaf-buds scaly, chestnut brown, ovate, acute,
hairy, one-fourth of an inch long ; flower-buds larger. Inner scales
enlarge with the growing shoot. No terminal bud is formed.

Leaves. — Alternate, obovate or oblong-oval, three to four inches
long, rounded or wedge-shaped at base, doubly serrate, acute.

242

CORK ELM

Cork Elm, Ulmus racemosa.

Leaves }' to 4' long.

ELM FAMILY

They come out of the bud conduplicate, pale green and hairy, when
full grown are thick, firm, smooth, dark green above and paler
green beneath. Feather-veined. In autumn they turn a bright
clear yellow. Petioles short, hairy. Stipules ovate - lanceolate,
veined, green with red margins, clasping with united bases.

Flowers. — March, April, before the leaves. Perfect, greenish,
borne in three-flowered clusters on long drooping pedicles.

Calyx. — Campanulate, seven to eight-lobed ; lobes oblong,
rounded.

Corolla. — Wanting.

Stamens. — Seven to eight, exserted ; filaments light green ; an-
thers oblong, dark purple, extrorse, two-celled ; cells opening longi-
tudinally.

Pistil. — Ovary superior, one-celled, hairy, with two styles ; ovule
solitary.

Fruit. — Samaras, winged all round, mature in May when leaves
are half grown, ovate, half an inch long, faces downy, margin
densely ciliate ; wing narrow in proportion to the seed.

The Cork Elm is perhaps the most valuable tree of the
genus, as it possesses all the good qualities of the family
and none of the bad ones. It is strong, tough, easy to work,
takes a fine polish, in short, is so useful that it is likely to be

exterminated. Its range is
quite limited, extending
through northern New York
and southern Michigan to
Nebraska, Missouri, and mid-
dle Tennessee. It is some-
times called the Hickory Elm
ft and often the Cliff Elm. Its
leaves are about the size of
those of the White Elm and
have the elm shape, unequal
at base, oval, doubly serrate
and acute. The tree may be known in the spring by the
raceme of drooping blossoms and later by its samaras. But
at any time, the irregular corky ridges which grow from
every side of the branches and branchlets give the tree a
Strange shaggy appearance and mark it unmistakably.

244

WINGED ELM

Winged Elm, Ulmus alata.

Leaves 2' to 2^' long.

ELM FAMILY

WINGED ELM. WAHOO

Ulmus alcita.
Alata, winged, referring to the bark of the branchlets.

Small tree, forty or fifty feet high, with short spreading branches
and open round-topped head, the smaller branches with corky wings.
Native to the southern states, though appearing in southern Illi-
nois and southern Indiana. Prefers dry gravelly uplands, though
found in alluvial soil. Roots fibrous,

Bark. — Brown tinged with red, divided by shallow fissures into
flat ridges covered with small scales. Branchlets slender, light
green tinged with red, later become brown tinged with red and de-
velop corky wings which remain for a long time.

Wood. — Light brown ; heavy, hard close-grained, not strong, but
difficult to split. Has very little value. Sp. gr., 0.7491 ; weight of
cu. ft., 46.68 Ibs.

Winter Bitds. — Leaf-buds slender, acute, one-eighth of an inch
long, smooth or downy ; flower-buds longer.

Leaves. — Alternate, ovate-oblong, often slightly falcate, two to
two and a half inches long, oblique or rounded at base, doubly ser-
rate, acute or acuminate. They come out of the bud conduplicate,
pale green, often tinged with red, hairy, when full grown are thick,
firm, dark green and smooth above, pale green, downy below.
Feather-veined, midrib and veins prominent. In autumn they turn
a pale yellow. Petioles short, stout, hairy. Stipules large, caducous.

Flowers. — March, before the leaves. Per-
fect, greenish brown. Borne on drooping ped-
icels in few-flowered clusters, furnished with
both bracts and bractlets.

Calyx. — Campanulate, with five ovate,
rounded lobes, imbricate in bud.

Corolla. — Wanting.

Stamens. — As many as the lobes of the
corolla.

Pistil. — Ovary superior, raised on a short
stipe and coated with white tomentum, one-
celled by abortion ; stigmas two.
Winged Elm, Ulmus alata-. pruit,— Samaras, winged all round ; mature
Samaras %' to K' long. at the unfolding of the leaves, oblong, one-
third of an inch long, borne on a drooping

stem, downy on the faces, tipped with incurved downy horns,
margins densely ciliate. Wing narrow compared to seed.

246

ENGLISH ELM

English Elm, Ulmus campestris.

Leaves V to 4' long.

ELM FAMILY

The Wahoo or Winged Elm is a native of the southern
states ranging along the line of Virginia, southern Illinois,
and southern Indiana, to the shores of the Gulf of Mexico.

Its leaves are smaller than those of the White Elm ; its
samaras are the smallest of all the elms ; its wood has inter-
laced fibres which make it difficult to split; its economic
value is virtually nothing. It grows rapidly, branches low to
the ground, has beautiful and abundant foliage and may well
claim a place in our parks and lawns.

The most remarkable thing about the tree are the corky
ridges along the sides of the branches from which the name
alata has been given to the species.

ENGLISH ELM

^
Ulnnis campfetris.

This elm was brought over to New England at an early
date in the history of the colonies and there are vigorous
specimens about Boston fully one hundred and fifty years old.
Although known to us as the English Elm, competent opinion
inclines to the belief that it was brought into England by the
Romans and is not native to the island. This is the common
elm tree of Europe and has been valued there both for its
timber and its beauty from very ancient times. It does not
have the drooping habit of our American elms but rather takes
on the appearance of the oak. The leaves are oblique, often
two-shouldered, rough, feather-veined and doubly serrate.
Its seedlings vary greatly.

The ancient poets frequently mention this tree which, in
common with many other barren trees, was devoted by them
to the infernal gods. The Greeks and Romans considered all
trees which produce no fruit fit for human use as funereal trees.
Homer alludes to this when he tells us that Achilles raised a
monument to the father of Andromache in a grove of elms :

Jove's sylvan daughters bade their elms bestow
A barren shade, and in his honor grow.

—Iliad, Book VI.

243

HACKBERRY

The elm was in Roman days and is still used in Italy as a
support to the vine. It is interesting, to a stranger, to see a
vineyard planted full of small elm trees and the grape vines
hanging from their branches or trained from one to another.
The manner of cultivation seems not to have changed from
ancient times.

" If that fair elm," he cried, u alone should stand,
No grapes would glow with gold and tempt the hand ;
Or if that vine without her elm should grow,
'Twould creep, a poor neglected shrub, below."

— OVID.

HACKBERRY. SUGARBERRY. NETTLE TREE

Ce"ltis occicttntalis.

The name Celtis is said to refer to the tree having been known to
the ancient Celts ; another explanation is that it was the ancient
name of a species of lotus.

A large tree with a slender trunk, rising to the height of one hun-
dred and thirty feet, is the Hackberry in the southwest, but in the
middle states it attains the height of sixty feet with a handsome
round-topped head and pendulous branches. It prefers rich moist
soil, but will grow on gravelly or rocky hillsides. The roots are
fibrous and it grows rapidly. Native throughout the United States
east of the Rocky Mountains.

Bark. — Light brown or silvery gray, broken on the surface into
thick appressed scales and sometimes roughened with excrescences.
Branchlets slender, light green at first, finally red brown, at length
become dark brown tinged with red.

Wood. — Light yellow ; heavy, soft, coarse-grained, not strong.
Used for fencing and cheap furniture. Sp. gr., 0.7287 ; weight of
cu. ft., 45.41 Ibs.

Winter Buds.— Axillary, ovate, acute, somewhat flattened, one-
fourth of an inch long, light brown. Scales enlarge with the grow-
ing shoot, the innermost becoming stipules. No terminal bud is
formed.

Leaves. — Alternate, ovate to ovate-lanceolate, more or less falcate,
two and a half to four inches long, one to two inches wide, very
oblique at the base, serrate, except at the base which is mostly entire,
acute. Three-nerve4, midrib and primary veins prominent- They

?49

ELM FAMILY

come out of the bud conduplicate with slightly involute margins,
pale yellow green, downy ; when full grown are thin, bright green,
rough above, paler green beneath. In autumn they turn to a light
yellow. Petioles slender, slightly grooved, hairy. Stipules varying
in form, caducous.

Flowers. — May, soon after the leaves. Polygamo-moncecious,
greenish. Of three kinds — staminate, pistillate, perfect ; borne on
slender drooping pedicels.

Calyx. — Light yellow green, five-lobed, divided nearly to the base ;
lobes linear, acute, more or less cut at the apex, often tipped with
hairs, imbricate in bud.

Corolla. — Wanting.

Stamens. — Five, hypogynous ; filaments white, smooth, slightly
flattened and gradually narrowed from base to apex ; in the bud
incurved, bringing the anthers face to face, as flower opens they
abruptly straighten ; anthers extrorse, oblong, two-celled ; cells
opening longitudinally.

Pistil.— Ovary superior, one-celled ; style two-lobed ; ovules sol-
itary.

Fruit. — Fleshy drupe, oblong, one-half to three-fourths of an inch
long, tipped with remnants of style, dark purple. Borne on a slen-
der stem ; ripens in September and October. Remains on branches
during winter.

When one for the first time sees an elm tree bearing ber-
ries, it gives a shock to all his former ideas. To come upon
the Hackberry, " tall and stately by the river," showing its
elm relationship in the poise of its trunk, in the sweep and
fall of its branches, in the effect of its foliage mass ; showing
this so plainly that a novice says, " of course it is an elm,"
and then to find that elm bearing dark purple berries is in-
deed a surprise. Certainly the Hackberry is not an elm, and
its stunted growth in the eastern states would never permit
it to be mistaken for one, but where it attains its fullest de-
velopment it shows unmistakably its family relationship.

Native to the Mississippi valley, it is rare east of the Alle-
ghanies and west of the Rockies. The wood is not very val-
uable, but as an ornamental tree it has much to recommend
it. It is tolerant of many conditions of soil and climate, likes
water but can live in dry situations. Insects rarely attack
its leaves, and it is comparatively free from serious diseases.
It is now extensively planted as a shade tree in the western

.250

HACKBERRY

Fruiting Spray of Hackberry, Ceitis occtdentalis.

ELM FAMILY

states. The fruit is sweet and not unpleasant, and is loved
by the birds.

The type is ancient, traces of Celtis have been found in the
miocene rocks of Europe.

The European Nettle, Celtis australis, is supposed to have
been the Lotus of the ancients, whose fruit Herodotus, Dios-
corides, and Theophrastus describe as sweet, pleasant, and
wholesome. Homer makes Ulysses say :

I sent explorers forth — two chosen men,

A herald was the third — to learn what race

Of mortals nourished by the fruits of earth

Possessed the land. They went and found themselves

Among the Lotus-eaters soon, who used

No violence against their lives, but gave

Into their hands the lotus plant to taste.

Whoever tasted once of that sweet food

Wished not to see his native country more

Nor give his friends the knowledge of his fate ;

And then my messengers desired to dwell

Among the Lotus-eaters, and to feed

Upon the lotus, never to return.

— ODYSSEY, Book IX.

252

MORACEJE— MULBERRY FAMILY

RED MULBERRY

Morus rhbra.
Morus is the ancient classical name.

Common. Prefers rich soil of intervale lands and low hills. Sixty
to seventy feet high, with a short trunk three or four feet in diam-
eter, stout spreading branches making a dense, broad, round-topped
head. Roots fibrous, grows rapidly. Juice milky. Ranges from
Massachusetts to Florida, westward to Kansas and Nebraska.

Bark. — Dark brown tinged with red, divided into irregular plates ;
separating into thick scales. Branchlets at first dark green, often
tinged with red ; later, red brown and finally dark brown.

Wood. — Pale orange ; light, soft, coarse-grained, not strong, very
durable in contact with the soil. Used for fences and in cooperage.
Sp. gr., 0.5898 ; weight of cu. ft., 36.75 Ibs.

Winter Buds. — Ovate, rounded at apex, one-fourth of an inch in
length, light brown. Scales grow with the growing shoot. No
terminal bud is formed.

Leaves . — Alternate, variable in shape, entire, ovate or semiorbic-
ular, three-lobed sometimes five-lobed ; three to five inches long,
more or less cordate at base, serrate, acute or acuminate. Three-
nerved or in the lobed leaves, palmately-veined. They come out of
the bud conduplicate, yellow green with reddish tinge ; when full
grown are thin, dark bluish green, shining, smooth or rough above,
paler green beneath. In autumn they turn a bright yellow and fall
early. Petioles stout, grooved, rather long. Stipules caducous.

Flowers. — May, June, with the leaves ; monoecious and dioecious.
Staminate flowers in densely flowered spikes an inch long, on short,
hairy peduncles, in the axils of later leaves. A few pistillate are
often mixed with these. Pistillate flowers in narrow spikes two to
two and a half inches long and borne in the axils of the first leaves.
Calyx four-parted ; stamens four ; filaments elastically expanding ;

253

MULBERRY FAMILY

styles two, thread-like ; ovary two-celled, one cell small and finally
disappearing.

Fruit. — Compound, consisting of drupes each inclosed in a
thickened, fleshy calyx. Bright red at first, finally dark purple,
sweet and juicy ; about an inch long. July.

The tree (the Mulberry) is found in abundance in the northwestern parts
of Florida. The Choctaws put its inner bark in hot water along with a quantity
of ashes and obtain filaments, with which they weave a kind of cloth not unlike
a coarse hempen cloth.

— ROMANS'S "Natural History of Florida."

There are three well known mulberries, the Red, the
Black, and the White ; so named because of the color of their
fruit. The Red Mulberry is the American species and bears
the characteristic berry of the genus which is
an aggregate fruit of many drupes. It resem-
bles a blackberry. In ripening it is first red,
then dark purple. In taste it is rather insipid,
but is loved by the birds.

The Red Mulberry is generally distributed,
but rarely attains great size. Standing in the
southern forests it reaches the height of seventy
feet, but ordinarily it is a low broad branched
. tree with trunk proportionately thickened. Like
the Sassafras it bears leaves varying in form,
some heart-shaped and others lobed. But these
leaves are too thick and rough even when young
to make proper food for the silkworm, which

in a cold climate> feeds with advantage on the
leaves of the White Mulberry only.

Professor Sargent says of it, " Surpassing as it does in
height and breadth all mulberry trees of temperate regions,
the dense shade afforded by its broad compact crown of
dark blue green leaves, its freedom from disease and the
attacks of disfiguring insects, its prolificness, its hardiness
except in its earliest years, and the rapidity of its growth in
good soil, make it a most desirable ornamental tree."

The Black Mulberry, Morus nigra, is the tree common in
Europe, introduced it is supposed from Persia, that native

254

;

RED MULBERRY

Red Mulberry, Moms rubra.

Leaves 3' to 5' long.

MULBERRY FAMILY

land of so many of our fruits. Its berry is large, dark
purple, almost black, very juicy and delicious. Like all the
mulberries, its leaves vary apparently without law. The
tree is long-lived and many individuals in England are known
to be three hundred years old. In the grounds of Christ
Church College at Cambridge is one planted by Milton when
a student of the college and it still bears delicious fruit as
the writer can testify from personal experience. In Oxford,
in the Common Room Garden of Pembroke College, are two
mulberry trees which are said to have been planted before
the college was founded in 1624.

The Black Mulberry has been known from the earliest
records of antiquity, which leads to the belief that it is one
of the first trees cultivated by man. It is related in the
Bible, II. Samuel, v. 23, that David came out against his
enemies from behind the mulberry trees, but there is always
a difficulty in identifying any tree mentioned by the ancient
authors unless its characteristics are expressly noted. Ovid,
however, evidently points out the Black Mulberry as the one
introduced in the story of Pyramis and Thisbe, and Pliny in
several ways seems to identify the tree. In addition to
much else he says, " Of all cultivated trees the mulberry is
the last that buds, which it never does until the cold weather
is past and it is therefore called the wisest of trees."

The mulberry was very generally introduced into England
about 1605 because of an edict of James I. recommending the
rearing of silkworms and offering packets of mulberry seeds
to all who would sow them. But the royal knowledge was
imperfect and the seeds distributed were those of the Black
Mulberry which the silkworm will not willingly eat, instead
of the White Mulberry upon which the silkworm thrives.

Shakespeare's Mulberry is referred to this period as it was
planted in 1609 in his garden at New Place, Stratford. In
Drake's Shakespeare, Mr. Drake mentions a native of Strat-
ford who remembered frequently to have eaten of the fruit
of this tree in his youth, some of its branches hanging over
the wall which divided that garden from his father's. Cer-

256

WHITE MULBERRi

Fruiting Branch of White Mulberry, Morus

Leaves 3' to 5' long.

MULBERRY FAMILY

tainly the flourishing plants now growing in that garden, and
for the delight of tourists averred to be the scions of that
classic tree, are Black Mulberries.

The mulberry was dedicated by the Greeks to Minerva,
probably because it was considered the wisest of trees.

Many persons still remember a children's game played by
little girls, with the refrain, —

As we go round the mulberry bush,
The mulberry bush, the mulberry bush,
As we go round the mulberry bush,
So early in the morning.

The White Mulberry, Morus alba, is a native of China, and
although many varieties have been produced they are all
alike in this, that the fruit is white. The leaves are the pre-
ferred food of the silkworm and the tree seems to have been
cultivated in China from most ancient times for the purpose
of rearing silkworms. It is hardy on the southern shore of
Lake Erie, and doubtless throughout our temperate range,
although it succumbs to excessive heat and extreme cold.
The leaves are variable in form, dark green and shining.

OSAGE ORANGE

Toxylon pomiferum. Madura aurantiaca.

Toxylon, of Greek derivation, alludes to the Indian use of the wood
in the manufacture of bows. Maclura was given in honor of Will-
iam Maclure, an eminent scientist.

Native to the rich bottom lands of Arkansas, Texas, and Indian
Territory. Forty to sixty feet high with short trunk and handsome
round-topped head. Juice milky and acrid. Roots thick, fleshy,
covered with bright orange colored bark.

Bark. — Dark, deeply furrowed, scaly. Branchlets at first bright
green, pubescent, during first winter they become light brown tinged
with orange, later they become a paler orange brown. Branches
with yellow pith, and armed with stout, straight, axillary spines.

Wood. — Bright orange yellow, sapwood paler yellow ; heavy,
hard, strong, flexible, capable of receiving a fine polish, very durable

258

OSAGE ORANGE

Osage Orange, Toxylon pomiferum,

Leaves 3' to 5' long, 2' to 3' wide.

MULBERRY FAMILY

in contact with the ground. Sp. gr., 0.7736 ; weight of cu. ft.,
48.21 Ibs.

Winter Buds, — AH buds lateral. Depressed-globular, partly im-
mersed in the bark, pale chestnut brown.

Leaves. — Alternate, simple, three to five inches long, two to three
inches wide, ovate to oblong-lanceolate, entire, acuminate, or acute
or cuspidate, rounded, wedge-shaped or subcordate at base. Feather-
veined, midrib prominent. They come out of the bud involute, pale
bright green, pubescent and tomentose, when full grown are thick,
firm, dark green, shining above, paler green below. In autumn
they turn a clear bright yellow. Petioles slender, pubescent, slightly
grooved. Stipules small, caducous.

Flowers. — June, when leaves are full grown ; dioecious. Stam-
inate flowers in racemes, borne on long, slender, drooping peduncles
developed from the axils of crowded leaves on the spur-like branch-
lets of the previous year. Racemes are short or long. Flowers pale
green, small. Calyx hairy, four-lobed. Stamens four, inserted op-
posite lobes of calyx, on the margin of thin disk ; filaments flattened,
exserted ; anthers oblong, introrse, two-celled ; cells opening longi-
tudinally ; ovary wanting. Pistillate flowers borne in a dense glo-
bose many-flowered head which appears on a short stout peduncle,
axillary on shoots of the year. Calyx, hairy, four-lobed ; lobes
thick, concave, investing the ovary, and inclosing the fruit. Ovary
superior, ovate, compressed, green, crowned by a long slender style
covered with white stigmatic hairs. Ovule solitary.

Fruit. — Pale green globe, four to five inches in diameter, made
up of numerous small drupes, crowded and grown together. These
small drupes are oblong, compressed, rounded, often notched at
apex, filled with milky juice. Seed oblong, the fruit is often seed-
less.

The earliest account of Toxylon pomiferum was given by a
Scotch gentleman, William Dunbar, in his narrative of a jour-
ney made in 1804 from St. Catherine's Landing on the Mis-
sissippi to the Wishita river. In 1810, Bradbury, who trav-
elled extensively in the interior of North America in 1809,
1810 and 1811, relates that he found two trees growing in
the garden of Pierre Chouteau, one of the first settlers of St.
Louis. They were known as Osage Orange, the trees haying
been introduced from a settlement of the Osage Indians.
The wood was highly prized by the Indians as material for
bows and war clubs, and Bradbury relates that the price of
a bow was a horse and blanket. The wood is very elastic,
practically incorruptible, and extensively used wherever wood

260

OSAGE ORANGE

Fruit of Osage Orange.

Varies from 4' to 5' in diameter.

MULBERRY FAMILY

must bear alternations of wet and dry, or is brought into con-
tact with the soil. In color it is a most brilliant orange, but
this dulls with time. It is largely used as a substitute for
olive wood in the manufacture of small articles.

The Osage Orange is native to a deep and fertile soil but
it has great powers of adaptation and is hardy throughout the
north, where it is extensively used as a hedge plant. It needs
severe pruning to keep it in bounds and the shoots of a sin-
gle year will grow three to six feet long.

The leaves are beautiful singly, but arranged alternately on
a slender growing shoot three or four feet long, varying from
dark to pale tender green, every one glistening and glittering
in the sunlight, they are indeed beautiful. In form they are
very simple, a long oval terminating in a slender point. In
the axil of every growing leaf is found a growing spine which
when mature is about an inch long, and rather formidable.
The pistillate and staminate flowers are on different trees ;
both are inconspicuous ; but the fruit is very much in evi-
dence. This in size and general appearance resembles a
large, yellow green orange, only its surface is roughened and
tuberculated. It is, in fact, a compound fruit such as the bot-
anists call a syncarp. Syncarp means that the carpels, that
is, the ovaries have grown together and that the great orange-
like ball is not one fruit but many ; in fact just as many as
there are tubercles on the surface for each one represents a
ripened ovary. It is heavily charged with milky juice which
oozes out at the slightest wounding of the surface. Although
the flowering is dioecious, the pistillate tree even when iso-
lated will bear large oranges, perfect to the sight but lacking
the seeds. The fruit is eaten by cattle but is not good for
them.

The tree is very prolific and a neglected hedge will soon
become fruit-bearing. It is remarkably free from insect ene-
mies and fungal diseases.

262

PLATANACE.E— PLANE TREE FAMILY

SYCAMORE. BUTTONWOOD

Pldtanus occide'ntalis.
Platanus from plains, broad, on account of the shape of the leaf.

Common throughout the United States. Found along the banks
of streams and on rich bottom lands. Seventy to one hundred and
twenty feet in height, often divided near the ground into several sec-
ondary trunks, very free from branches ; spreading limbs at the top
make an irregular, open head. Easily recognized by its mottled ex-
foliating bark. Roots fibrous. The trunks of large trees often hollow.

Bark. — Dark reddish brown, broken into oblong plate-like scales,
higher on the tree smooth and light gray ; separates freely into thin
plates which peel off and leave the surface pale yellow, or white, or
greenish. Branchlets at first pale green, coated with thick pale to-
mentum, later dark green and smooth, finally become light gray or *
light reddish brown.

Wood. — Light brown, tinged with red; heavy, weak, difficult to •
split. Largely used for furniture and interior finish of houses, butch- ••
ers' blocks. Sp. gr., 0.5678; weight of cu. ft, 35.39 Ibs.

Winter Buds. — Large, conical, three-scaled, form in summer
within the petiole of the full grown leaf. The inner scales enlarge
with the growing shoot. There is no terminal bud.

Leaves.— Alternate, palmately nerved, broadly-ovate or orbicular,
four to nine inches long, truncate or cordate or wedge-shaped at
base, decurrent on the petiole. Three to five-lobed by broad shallow
sinuses rounded in the bottom ; lobes acuminate, toothed, or entire,
or undulate. They come out of the bud plicate, pale green coated
with pale tomentum ; when full grown are bright yellow green above,
paler beneath. In autumn they turn brown and wither before falling.
Petioles long, abruptly enlarged at base and inclosing the buds.
Stipules with spreading, toothed borders, conspicuous on young '
shoots, caducous.

263

PLANE TREE FAMILY

Trunk of the Sycamore, Platanus occidentalis.

SYCAMORE

Flowers. — May, with the leaves; monoecious, borne in dense
heads. Staminate and pistillate heads on separate peduncles.
Staminate heads dark red, on axillary peduncles ; pistillate heads
light green tinged with red, on longer terminal peduncles. Calyx of
Staminate flowers three to six tiny scale-like sepals, slightly united
at the base, half as long as the pointed petals. Of pistillate flowers
three to six, usually four, rounded sepals, much shorter than the
acute petals. Corolla of three to six thin scale-like petals.

Stamens. — In Staminate flowers as many as the divisions of the
calyx and opposite to them; filaments short; anthers elongated,
two-celled ; cells opening by lateral slits ; connectives hairy.

Pistil.— Ovary superior, one-celled, sessile, ovate-oblong, sur-
rounded at base by long, jointed, pale hairs ; styles long, incurved,
red, stigmatic ; ovules one or two.

Fruit. — Brown heads, solitary or rarely clustered, an inch in
diameter, hanging on slender stems three to six inches long ; per-
sistent through the winter. These heads are composed of akenes
about two-thirds of an inch in length. October.

Clear are the depths where its eddies play,

And dimples deepen and whirl away ;
And the plane tree's speckled arms o'ershoot

The swifter current that mines its root.

—WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT.

The distinguishing peculiarity of the Sycamore is that it
"casts its bark as well as its leaves." All trees do this more
or less, it is a necessity of life that the bark should yield to
the pressure of the growing stem ; and the outer layers be-
coming dead fall off in scales or plates of varying size. In
the case of the Silver Maple and the Shagbark Hickory the
process is not hidden, but the Sycamore proclaims the fact
more openly than any other tree of the forest. The bark of
the trunk and larger limbs flakes off in great irregular masses
leaving the surface mottled, greenish white and gray and
brown, sometimes the smaller limbs look as if whitewashed.
In winter it can be recognized from afar by this characteristic
alone ; and as it likes to grow upon river banks the course of
the stream may often be traced for a long distance by the
white branches of this tree. The explanation of this is found
in the rigid texture of the bark tissue, which entirely lacks
the expansive power common to the bark of other trees, so
that it is incapable of stretching to accommodate the growth

265

PLANE TREE FAMILY

of the wood underneath and the tree is therefore obliged to
slough it off.

A second peculiarity is the way the leaves protect the
growing buds. Examine a branch of almost any tree in early
August and nestled in the axils of the
leaves you will find the tiny forming
buds which will produce the leaves of
the coming year. The Sycamore branch
apparently has no such buds. Are there
then to be no more leaves on Sycamores
in coming years ? The conclusion is
hasty. Observe the sudden enlarge-
ment of the petiole, pull it from the
branch, and there inclosed in a little
tight-fitting case made of the base of
the petiole is the bud.

The great merit of the Sycamore is
its vigor and luxuriance of growth ; al-
though at present the trees are greatly
threatened by a fungus which attacks
and destroys the first leaves and grow-
ing shoots. This fungus was first dis-
covered in Germany more than twenty
years ago, but its occurrence in the
United States was only recently recog-
nized by botanists. The disease makes
its appearance soon after the leaves
have expanded, appearing in the form
of small black spots which lie close to
the veins. As a result the half grown
leaves turn brown, shrivel, and fall. It
is very common in early June to see

these trees putting forth their second crop of leaves while
the first hang brown, dead, and unsightly on the ends of
the branches. No efficient remedy has as yet been applied
and if none develops the Sycamore is practically out of the
race, for a tree which does not really get its leaves until July

266

Fruit of the Sycamore,
Plat anus occidentalis.

SYCAMORE

Sycamore, Platanus occidentalis.
Leaves 4' to 9' long.

PLANE TREE FAMILY

is too severely handicapped to compete successfully in the
struggle for life.

In old age the tree is picturesque rather than beau-
tiful. The stiff branches strike out from the huge trunk
irregularly and wander away without law or order. The
branchlets likewise are arranged on a plan of hit or miss.
But, when the leaves are out, this scrambling lawless arrange-
ment is seen to have its good points, no leaf unduly shades
another and the foliage effect is light and airy.

The Sycamore is able to triumph over the hard conditions
of city life and is extensively planted as a shade tree. It
bears transplanting well and grows rapidly.

A Sycamore, probably our present Sycamore, made up a
large part of the forests of Greenland and arctic America
during the cretaceous and tertiary periods. It once grew
abundantly in central Europe whence it has now disappeared.
Evidently there is something in present conditions inimical
to its development.

268

JUGLANDACE^E— WALNUT FAMILY

BLACK WALNUT

Juglans nigra

Jitglans is contracted from Jovis, Jove's, and glans a mast, or
acorn ; and was applied by the Roman writers to this tree on
account of the excellence of its fruit as food, compared with other
masts or acorns ; the only species that was known to the Romans
having been the Juglans regia, the tree bearing the walnut of
commerce.

Generally distributed, least common in the Atlantic states,
abundant in the middle Mississippi valley. Prefers rich bottom
lands and fertile hillsides. Deep perpendicular roots ; grows
slowly ; reaches the height of one hundred feet with a trunk four to
six feet in diameter. Bark and husk contain tannic acid.

Bark. — Dark brown, slightly tinged with red, deeply divided into
broad rounded ridges, broken on the surface into thick scales.
Branchlets hairy, dull orange brown, later becoming darker brown.

Winter Buds. — Terminal buds ovate, slightly flattened, one-third
of an inch long, covered with silky tomentum. Axillary buds obtuse,
one-eighth of an inch long, covered with silky tomentum ; two to four
together.

Wood. — Dark purplish brown ; heavy, hard, close-grained, strong.
Very durable in contact with the soil ; used for furniture, interior
finishing of houses, gunstocks. Sp. gr., 0.6115 '> weight of cu. ft.,
38.11 Ibs.

Leaves. — Alternate, compound, unequally pinnate, often equally
pinnate, one to two feet long. Fifteen to twenty- three leaflets.
Leaflets ovate-lanceolate, three to three and a half inches in length,
often unequal at base, serrate, long-pointed, and sessile on the cen-
tral stem. They come out of the bud shining, yellow green, smooth
above, tomentose beneath, when full grown are thin, bright yellow
green, smooth. In autumn they turn bright yellow and fall early.
Petioles minutely downy.

269

WALNUT FAMILY

Flowers. — May, when leaves are half grown ; monoecious. The
catkins of staminate flowers appear in the autumn as short cone-
like buds, slightly hairy, solitary or in pairs ; when mature are three
to five inches long. The perianth, subtended by an acute triangu-
lar bract, coated with tomentum, is six-lobed ; lobes imbricate,
nearly orbicular. Stamens twenty to thirty, arranged in several
rows, with purple anthers surmounted by slightly lobed connectives.
Pistillate flowers are borne in a two to five-flowered spike, ovate,
pointed, maturing later than the staminate. The bract and bract-
lets which form the outer covering of the flower are green and hairy
above, covered with pale hairs beneath, sometimes cut into a
laciniate border, sometimes undivided, sometimes greatly reduced.
Calyx four-lobed ; lobes imbricate, acute, light green, hairy. Styles
two ; stigmas recurved, yellow green, tinged with red. Ovary in-
ferior, ovule solitary.

Fruit. — Nut inclosed in an indehiscent involucre, making a kind
of dry drupe, solitary or in pairs, globose or slightly pyriform, yel-
low green, roughly dotted, one and a half to two inches in diameter.
The nut is oval or oblong, slightly flattened, without sutural ridges,
one and a quarter to one and a half inches in length, dark brown,
four-celled at top and bottom. Kernel sweet and edible. Cotyle-
dons deeply lobed.

The Black Walnut growing alone is one of the grandest
and most massive trees of our flora. Given a rich soil and
ample space, " it equals in the boldness of its ramifications
and the amplitude of its head the best specimens of the oak
or chestnut." Its lower branches often sweep the ground,
while its upper tower sixty or seventy feet into the air. Then,
too, its plumy yellow green foliage, tufted at the end of the
spray, long-petioled and narrow-leaved, catches and throws
the sunlight and makes of its very shade a golden glow.

This is the free creature protected by man. In the forest
living under the law of competition it becomes entirely dif-
ferent. There, the trunk rises straight as a column forty,
fifty, or sixty feet, without the suggestion of a branch, and
finally puts forth a narrow round-topped somewhat rigid
head,

So much a long communion tends
To make us what we are.

A single Black Walnut will lighten a dense foliage mass
wonderfully and has great value in a landscape for that rea-

270

BLACK WALNUT

Black Walnut, Juglans nigra.

Leaves 12' to 24' long. Leaflets 3' to 3^'

WALNUT FAMILY

son. The objection to the tree is that the leaves are late in
coming out in the spring and fall early in the autumn so that
it often stands naked when its neighbors are apparently in
full leaf ; moreover, it is the host of many caterpillars.

The bark of the trunk is very dark and the branches seen
in contrast with the light foliage look positively black. The
walnut grows more rapidly than is generally supposed, and
had there been reasonable care in cutting only the large trees
and protecting the small ones, it need never have become as
rare as it now is. The nut cannot compare in flavor and
sweetness with that of the European species, but the wood is
far superior.

During the tertiary period many species of walnut were
abundant in Europe ; now the genus is native only in America
and Asia.

The European Walnut, Juglans regia, is a native of Persia,
the home of the peach and the apricot. It was known to the
Greeks whose names for it were Persicon and Basilicon, the
Persian and royal nut. Curiously enough, it was the fruit of
the walnut and not of the oak that the Romans called the
acorn. When Ovid tells us that the people of the golden
age lived upon

Acorns that had fallen
From the towering tree of Jove,

he had in mind not Quercus, the .oak, but Juglans, the wal-
nut.

Cowley, in his poem on Plants, says :

The walnut then approached, more large and tall
Her fruit which we a nut, the gods an acorn call ;
Jove's acorn, which does no small praise confess,
To have called it man's ambrosia had been less.

By the Greeks it was highly esteemed and dedicated to
Diana whose festivals were held beneath its shade. The
Greeks and Romans strewed walnuts at their weddings, and
Horace, Virgil, and Catullus allude to the custom. Spenser
mentions walnuts as employed in Christmas games.

272

BLACK WALNUT

Trunk of Black Walnut, Jug/ans mgra.

WALNUT FAMILY \

For some reason the ancienfs IH^ght the "sfiacfe of the
walnut unwholesome to men and pla^s. . . Jt i,s certain that
neither grass, field, nor garden crops thrive well under the
, walnut. The explanation given is tljat the,, injury comes
from the decaying of the fallen leaves and the washing into
the soil of their astringent properties ; if such is the case the
evil may be averted by raking them up and carrying them
away as soon as they fall.

BUTTERNUT. WHITE WALNUT

Juglans cintrea.

Common. Prefers rich moist lowlands, and fertile hills. Usually

fifty to seventy feet high, with broad, spreading, horizontal branches

% * forming a low symmetrical head. Deep perpendicular roots, with

\ a few, thick, fibrous rootlets.
* ,/

Bark. — Light grayish brown, deeply divided into broad ridges
which separate on the surface into small plate-like scale!! Young
trunks and branches, smooth and light gray. Branchless at first
orange brown or bright green, coated with rusty clammy hairs, be-
coming later light gray. Contains tannic acid.

Wood. — Light brown ; light, soft, coarse-grained and not, strong.
Will take a beautiful polish ; used for furniture and interior ofhouses.
Sp. gr., 0.4086 ; weight of cu. ft., 25.46 Ibs.

i». Winter B lids. — Terminal buds hairy, somewhat flattened, one-half
to three-fourths of an inch in length. Axillary buds hairy, ovate,
flattened, rounded at the apex, one-eighth of an inch long, in groups
of'three or four, almost naked. Inner scales enlarge when spring
growth begins.

Leaves. — Alternate, compound, unequally pinnate, often equally
pinnate, fifteen to thirty inches long, hairy, with eleven to seventeen
leaflets. Leaflets oblong-lanceolate, three to five inches long, one
and a half to two inches wide, unequally rounded at base, serrate,
acute or acuminate, sessile or short petioled, the terminal leaf-
let often borne on a stalk two inches in length. They come out of
the bud yellow green and sticky, shining and scurfy above, hairy be-
low ; when full grown thin, yellow green, pale ; midribs rounded
above, primary veins conspicuous. In autumn they turn yellow-
Stipules wanting. • Petioles downy with clammy hairs.

Flowers. — May, when the leaves are half grown ; monoecious.
The catkins of staminate flowers appear in the autumn as short cone-
like buds covered with pale tomentum ; when mature they are from
three to five inches long. The perianth, subtended by an acute

274

BUTTERNUT

Fruit of the Black Walnut and of the Butternut.

WALNUT FAMILY

hairy bract, is one-fourth inch long, bright yellow green, slightly
hairy, usually six-lobed, the side lobes bearing tufts of brown hairs.
Stamens from eight to twelve, with nearly sessile dark brown an-
thers, surmounted by darker connectives. Pistillate flowers are
borne in six to eight-flowered spikes ; one-third of an inch long, ma-
turing later than the staminate. The bract and bractlets which
form the outer covering of the flowers are coated with white or pink
glandular hairs ; bract linear and acute ; bractlets ovate, acute or
laciniate ; calyx four-lobed ; lobes imbricate, linear, hairy ; styles
two; stigmas two, fringed, spreading, bright red, half an inch long.
Ovary inferior, ovule solitary.

Fruit. — Nut closed in an indehiscent involucre, making a kind of
dry drupe. Three or five often ripen on one branch. Cylindrical,
obscurely two to four-ridged, ovate-oblong, pointed, coated with
rusty clammy hairs, one-half to two and one-half inches long. Nut
is brown, ovate, acute at apex, deeply sculptured and rough with
ragged ridges, two-celled at base. Kernel sweet and pleasant but
very oily and soon becomes rancid. Cotyledons ovate-oblong.

The Butternut when young much resembles the Black Wal-
nut. It is, perhaps, more generally distributed. The form of
the fruit differs greatly from that of the Black Walnut, being
oblong, oval, and narrowed to a point at the end. The husk
is covered with a sticky gum and when green is used domes-
tically to dye a dull yellow. The surface of the nut is much
rougher than that of any other of the walnut genus. The
bark is lighter gray than that of the Black Walnut, and the
ridges are very much broader. The leaves are very similar
in general appearance, but the petiole of the Butternut leaf
is covered with clammy hairs as are the young branchlets.

HICKORY

Hicbria. Cdrya.

The name Carya was applied by the Greeks to the common walnut, in honor
of Carya, daughter of Dion, King of Laconia, who was changed by Bacchus into
that tree. Diana had the surname of Caryata from the town of Carya in La-
conia where her rites were always celebrated in the open air under the shade of
a walnut tree. Plutarch says the name of Carya was applied to the walnut tree
from the effect of the smell of the leaves on the head.

— LOUDON.

Hickory is derived from the Indian name of the liquor obtained by pound-
ing the kernels. These the Indians beat into pieces with stones and putting them,

276

BUTTERNUT

•••%« ^^L^fM S £v^

^N?lip*v

4»i^

Butternut, Juglaii* cinerea.

Leaves 15' to 3c/ long. Leaflets 3r to *>' long.

WALNUT FAMILY

shells and all, into mortars, mingling water with them, with long wooden pestells
pound them so long together untill they make a kind of mylke, or oylie liquor,
which they call powcohicora.

— Historic of Travaile into Virginia Britannia.

The Hickories, of which there are nine species on this con-
tinent, are strictly American trees, no representatives of the
genus having been found elsewhere. They
are closely allied to the walnuts ; the chief
botanic distinction between them lies in the
husk which in the Hickories separates into
four pieces and discharges the nut, instead of
adhering in an unbroken coat upon it as is
the case with th^Black Walnut and the But-
ternut.

All the Hickories have alternate, exstipu-
late, compound leaves of five, seven, nine or
eleven leaflets, and' although the leaves vary
considerably they have a common typical
form well expressed ,:by Hicoria ovata, the
Shellbark. All have stout perpendicular tap-
roots and thick fibrous rootlets as well. Like
the oaks they take strong hold of the earth.
The noticeable quality of the wood is its
strength and elasticity as well as its fuel
value, but it decays when subjected to alter-
nations of wet and dry.

The flowers are monoecious and apetalous,
appearing after the leaves are well grown.
The staminate flowers appear in aments
which are borne in threes on a common
peduncle which is produced either from the
terminal bud or from the lateral buds in the
axils of last year's leaves. The staminate
flowers consist of a two, sometimes three-
lobed calyx, subtended by an elongated bract
which is free nearly to the base, usually much longer than
the ovate, rounded calyx-lobes. The corolla is wanting.

278

Staminate Aments of
Shellbark Hickory,
Hicoria ovata ; 4'
to 5' long.

HICKORY

The stamens vary from three to ten, are inserted on the
slightly thickened inner and lower face of the calyx. Fila-
ments short, free ; anthers oblong, two-celled ; cells opening
longitudinally. The ovary is wanting.

The pistillate flowers appear in a two to ten-flowered clus-
ter, borne on a peduncle which is terminal on a leafy branch
of the year. The calyx consists of a single lobe. The
stamens are wanting. The ovary is inferior, one-celled,
inclosed in a slightly four-ridged involucre formed by the
union of the chief bract and two smaller bracts ; the bract
much larger than the calyx-lobe and the bractlets. The
ovule is solitary.

The fruit is a nut inclosed in a four-valved involucre.
This nut varies in size and shape but when once known is
readily recognized under all its protean forms. That of the
Shellbark is typical of them all.

The autumn color of the leaves is a clear bright yellow ;
the leaflets frequently separate from the petiole in falling.

The Hickories range from the valley of the St. Lawrence
to the mountains of Mexico and traces of the genus are
found in the tertiary rocks of Greenland, also in the upper
tertiary formations of Europe. There is a prevailing opinion
that they are difficult to rear and, to a degree, this is true,
for the seedlings need protection against the wind and the
sun. But when this is given they flourish, and a well grown
hickory is a tree of great dignity and beauty.

BITTERNUT. SWAMP HICKORY

Hicbria minima. Cdrya am bra.

Widely distributed, but absent from the mountains of New York
and New England, abundant throughout the Mississippi valley.
Prefers low wet woods, borders of streams and swamps, but is often
found on high uplands remote from streams. Reaches the height
of one hundred feet, has a tall straight trunk, stout spreading limbs
and forms a broad handsome head. Grows most rapidly of all the
hickories.

279

WALNUT FAMILY

Bark. — Light grayish brown tinged with red, broken into thin
plate-like scales. In old trees very rugged. Branchlets slender,
marked with pale lenticels, at first bright green, downy, later become
reddish brown, during the first winter reddish or orange brown,
shining, with small, elevated, obscurely three-lobed leaf-scars, in the
second year dark or light gray.

Wood. — Dark or light brown, sap wood much paler ; heavy, hard,
close-grained, tough and strong. Used for cooperage and for fuel.
Sp. gr. , 0.7552 ; weight of cu. ft., 47.06 Ibs.

Winter Buds. — Terminal buds one-third to three-fourths of an
inch long, compressed, narrow oval, oblique at apex. Lateral buds
much smaller. Inner scales enlarge when spring growth begins, the
innermost becoming an inch and a half long and half an inch broad,
strap-shaped, pinnate at the apex, one and a half inch long, one-half
inch broad, yellow green, downy.

Leaves. — Alternate, compound, six to ten inches long. Leaflets
seven to eleven, lanceolate, ovate-lanceolate, or oblong, often un-
equally wedge-shaped or partly cordate at base, sessile with the ex-
ception of the terminal leaflet, serrate, acute or acuminate. Leaflet
vernation involute. They come out of the bud bright yellow green
or bronze red, shining, hairy and tomentose ; when full grown are
thick, firm, dark yellow green above, paler beneath ; midribs prom-
inent. In autumn they turn clear or rusty yellow. Petioles slender,
hairy, slightly grooved.

Flowers. — May, June, when leaves are half grown ; monoecious.
Staminate flowers, green, borne in triple catkins, three or four
inches long. Common peduncle about an inch long ; stamens four;
anthers yellow ; bract longer than calyx lobes. Pistillate flowers
one-half inch long, slightly angled, covered with yellow tomentum.
Bract lanceolate, hairy ; bractlets broadly ovate, shorter than the
calyx lobes ; stigmas pale green, mature and wither before the
staminate flowers open.

Fruit. — Obovate or globular, three-fourths to one and one-half
inches long, with four wings or ridges from the apex to the middle
which mark the valves, apex shows the remnants of the stigmas,
surface more or less thickly covered with golden scurfy pubescence,
and marked on inner surface with dark veins. Nut ovate or oblong,
compressed, marked at base with dark lines, gray with reddish tinge.
Kernel very bitter. October.

Distinguishing Characters. — Winter buds bright yellow, bud scales
valvate. Leaflets seven to eleven, lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate.
Fruit four-winged from apex nearly to the middle ; nut often broader
than long, thin-shelled, slightly four-angled, kernel bitter.

The Swamp Hickory or Bitternut has the smallest leaflets
of any of the hickories ; they are narrow, almost slender, and
suggest willow leaves in their contour. They are a distin-

280

BITTERNUT

Bitternut, Hicoria minima.
Lesves 6' to 10' long. Leaflets 2' to 4' lone;.

WALNUT FAMILY

guishing character and differ in general aspect from those
of the other hickories. The fruit also is individual, four
ridges or wings reach from the apex
half way to the base ; sometimes two
of these reach the base, all of them
never. The kernel is extremely bit-
ter.

This species loves the water and in
Ohio should be sought at the mar-
gins of streams, but in the south it
changes its nature and crowds upon
the poor, dry, gravelly soil of Ala-
bama and Mississippi. It grows rap-

Bitternut, Hieoria minima. Fruit . . .

%' to \%' long. idly for a hickory, but the entire fam-

ily are slow of growth.

The nuts should be planted where they are to grow, as the
trees are difficult to transplant.

SHELLBARK HICKORY. SHAGBARK

Hicbria ovata. Cdrya alba.

Shagbark refers to the loose shaggy appearance of the bark, and as
this peels off easily the tree is also known as Shellbark.

Not abundant in New England, reaches its largest size in the val-
ley of the Ohio. In the forest attains the height of one hundred
feet with a straight columnar trunk. Prefers a deep, rich, rather
moist soil. Its tap root is very large and vigorous, and the tree is
best reared directly from the nut.

gray, separates into strips often three feet or more
long, three to eight inches wide, which cling to the trunk usually by
the middle giving it a rough shaggy appearance. On young stems
and branches smooth aixd light green. Branchlets stout, at first
green, slightly angled, downy and covered with brown scurf, during
first year reddish or light gray, smQ'oth and shining, later becoming
dark gray, finally light gray. Leaf-scars are ovate to semi- orbicular
or very obscurely three-lobed, pale.

Wood. — Light brown, sapwood nearly white; heavy, tough, close-
grained and extremely elastic. Used in manufacture of agricultural

282

SHELLBARK HICKORY

implements, carriages, axe-handles, hoops. Best fuel of American
woods. Sp. gr., 0.8372 ; weight of cu. ft., 52.17 Ibs.

Winter Buds. — Terminal buds are broadly ovate, obtuse, one-half
to three-fourths inch long, one-third to one-half inch broad, three to
four outer scales are broadly ovate, dark brown and usually fall* in
late autumn or early winter. The inner scales enlarge as spring
growth begins, the innermost becoming two and one-half to three
inches long, an inch to one and one-half inches broad, oblong-obovate,
yellow green tinged with red, downy, and persist until leaves are half
grown.

Leaves. — Alternate, eight to fourteen inches long, compound, of
five, rarely seven, leaflets. Leaflets vary in size. The terminal one
is decurrent upon a short stalk, the others are sessile. Terminal
one is obovate, wedge-shaped at base, serrate, acute, the lower pair
of leaflets are much smaller than the second pair. The leaflets of
the second pair are obovate and often equal the terminal leaflet in
size. Leaflet vernation is involute. They come out of the bud thin,
shining, light yellow green, woolly coated ; when full grown are dark
yellow green, smooth above, paler yellow green sometimes downy
below ; midrib prominent, primary veins conspicuous. In autumn
they turn a rusty yellow. Petiole stout, smooth or hairy, obscurely
grooved and enlarged at the base.

Flowers. — May, when the leaves are well grown. Monoecious.
Staminate catkins three in a group, slender, light green, hairy, four
to five inches long ; common peduncle often an inch long ; bracts
linear-lanceolate, caducous. Staminate flowers are hairy, borne on
short pedicels ; bracts long, acute, ovate-lanceolate, much longer
than the calyx. Stamens four ; anthers nearly sessile, yellow tinged
with red. Pistillate flowers in two or five-flowered spikes, brownish,
tomentose ; bract and bractlets green and hairy. Stigmatic lobes
green, do not mature until the anthers have withered.

Fruit. — Solitary or in pairs, globular, longer than broad, or
slightly obovate, depressed at the apex, crowned with the remnants
of the stigmas, dark reddish brown or black, one inch to two and a
half inches long ; husk four-valved, splits freely, usually one-half
inch thick, hard, woody and pale within. Nut varies from oblong to
a form broader than long, compressed, clearly or obscurely four-
ridged which corresponds to the valve of the husk, acute or rounded
at apex, tipped with a point, pale or brownish white. Kernel sweet
with aromatic flavor. October.

Distinguishing Characters. — Bud scales imbricate ; leaflets five
to seven, obovate to oblong-lanceolate. Catkins of Staminate flowers
borne on branches of the year only. Fruit spherical, depressed at
apex, without wings ; nut ovate, more or less flattened, four-angled,
pale or nearly white, kernel sweet. Bark hanging in long, loose
plates.

The squirrel on the shingly shagbark's bough
Now saws, now lists with downward eye and ear
Then drops his nut.

— JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL.

283

WALNUT FAMILY

The Shellbark Hickory has three typical forms. When it
grows in the forest it rises a tall shaft straight as a column,
free from branches until the very top where it sends out a
few limbs and makes a small flat head ; again, when a young
tree has been permitted to remain after its companions were
removed its stout limbs rise and spread, droop a little and
make a cone-like head ; the third form, however, seems the
really characteristic one, where the central shaft rises in
the main intact, but sends out many short, small, lateral
branches almost at right angles to the trunk, and forms a
long cylindrical body of foliage, round-topped at the summit
and drooping a little at the base. This cylindrical body is
often broken.

Other trees hold their bark loosely, the Silver Maple often
looks as if she would be glad to be rid of hers, the Sycamore
frankly and absolutely casts hers and is done with it, but the
Shellbark, letting " I dare not wait upon I would," holds hers
in long unsightly pieces, loose at the edges yet clinging at
the centre until the trunk becomes simply shaggy, hence the
name Shagbark.

A Shellbark just about to put forth its leaves presents
a unique and striking appearance, as if covered with brilliant
flowers. Early in the spring the outer bud scales fall off
and the inner scales enlarge to an astonishing size, frequently
becoming five inches long and two inches broad. They are
then of a soft leathery texture, very downy, beautifully
fringed and take on a gorgeous red or salmon yellow color.
In the midst of these petal-like scales appear the leaves,
woolly and downy and shining, late indeed but not belated,
for they grow rapidly and by the end of June are of full size.
Out of this terminal bud come the pistillate flowers always,
and the staminate flowers very frequently.

The wood is light, tough, strong and elastic. " Tough as
hickory " became a stock phrase among the early settlers of
this country. The well-known sobriquet given to President
Jackson was " Old Hickory," and this name was no less an
expression of personal affection than of appreciation of his

284

SHELLBARK HICKORY

Fruiting Spray of Shellbark Hickory, Hicoria ovala.

Leaves 8' to 14' long.

WALNUT FAMILY

character. The excellence of the American axe is believed
to be due quite as much to the handle of hickory as to the
quality of its steel.

Hickory nuts were highly appreciated by the Indians.
Bertram, in his " Travels in North America," relates that he
had seen above one hundred bushels of these nuts belonging
to a single family. The Indian name of the nut appears in
English as Kiskitomas, Kiskytom, and, according to Michaux,
Kiskythomas. All are believed to be corruptions of an Indian
word Kwaskadamenne which means that it " must be cracked
with the teeth." Since this fruit is so excellent in its natural
state one cannot help thinking what it might become were it
improved by systematic cultivation.

The Big Shellbark, Hicoria lacinibsa, is a tree reaching the
height of sixty or seventy feet. The bark is loose, leaflets
seven to nine, fruit four-ribbed above the middle, husk very
thick, nut large. It may be known 'by the orange color of
the young branchlets. Ranges from Pennsylvania through
central and western New York to Indiana and Illinois and
southward to the Indian Territory.

MOCKERNUT. BIG BUD HICKORY

Uicbria alba. Cdrya tomentbsa.

Rare in New England, abundant in the middle west and south-
west. Prefers rich uplands, but will grow in sandy soil ; is the only
hickory found in the maritime Pine-belt of the southern states.
Rises high in the forest as do all the hickories, but when growing
alone becomes a broad round-topped tree. Leaves, buds, and husks
have a strong resinous odor.

Bark, — Light or dark gray, with shallow fissures and closely ap-
pressed scales. . In old trees it becomes very rugged. Branchlets
stout, terete, at first slightly angled, tomentose, during first year
bright red brown marked with conspicuous lenticels, in winter with
large pale leaf-scars, which are equally lobed or with middle lobe
two or three times as long as the others ; in the second year the
branches become light or dark gray.

286

SHELLBARK HICKORY

Trunk of Shellbark Hickory, Hicoria ovata.

WALNUT FAMILY

Wood.—'Da.rk brown, sapwood nearly white ; heavy, hard, strong,
close-grained, tough, elastic. Confounded commercially with that
of the Shellbark hickories. Sp. gr., 0.8218 ; weight of cu. ft., 51.21
Ibs.

Winter Buds. — Terminal buds one-half to three-fourth of an inch
long, broadly ovate, acute or obtuse, two or three times as large as
the axillary bud. The three or four outer scales are ovate, acute,
often keeled, dark reddish brown and often fall late in autumn or
early winter. The innermost scales enlarge when spring growth
begins becoming one and a half inches long and half an inch wide,
ovate, pale green without and bright red within, downy, persist until
the leaf is half grown.

Leaves.— Alternate, compound, eight to twelve inches long. Leaf-
lets seven to nine, oblong-lanceolate or obovate-lanceolate, equally
or unequally rounded or wedge-shaped at base, serrate, acute or
acuminate. Usually sessile except the terminal leaflet which is de-
current on a short stalk. Upper leaflets five to eight inches long.
Leaflet vernation involute. They come out of the bud thin, pale
yellow green, downy ; when full grown are dark yellow green, shin-
ing above, pale green or orange or brown and downy beneath ; mi-
drib stout, prominent. In autumn they turn a clear or rusty yellow.

Flowers. — May, when leaves are half grown. Monoecious. Stam-
inate flowers are borne in triple catkins, four to five inches in length,
slender, green, hairy. Bracts ovate-lanceolate, hairy, longer than
the yellow green calyx. Stamens four ; anthers bright red. Pistil-
late flowers in two to five-flowered tomentose spikes. Anterior bract

longer than the bractlets and calyx-
lobe. Stigmas dark red ; begin to
wither before the anthers shed their
pollen.

Fruit. — Spherical, oblong or ob-
ovate, dark reddish brown, one and
one-half to two inches long ; husk
splitting to middle or nearly to base.
Nut spherical or oblong, often long-
pointed, four-ridged toward the apex,
pale reddish brown, with very thick
hard shell and very small sweet ker-
nel. October.

Distinguishing Characters.—
Buds large, bud scales imbricate.
Staminate catkins borne on branches
of the year, Leaflets seven to nine,
oblong-lanceolate or obovate-lanceo-
late, more or less tomentose on un-
der surface, fragrant. Fruit with-
ridges ; nut globose, or oblong often
toward apex, thick-shelled, reddish

Moclcernut, Hicoria alba.
to 2' 'long.

Fruit \y>'

out or with obscure sutural
long-pointed. Four-ridged
brown ; kernel sweet.

288

MOCKERNUT

Mockernut, Hicorta alba.

Leaves 8' to 12' long.

WALNUT FAMILY

Hicoria alba evidently gained the common name Mocker-
nut because of the disappointing character of its nuts. These
are usually of large size and look like Shellbark nuts, but they
keep their promise to the sight only to break it to the hope,
for the kernel is very small and very difficult to extract.

The Mockernut varies toward the Shellbark on one side
and the Pignut on the other. In its foliage it resembles the
Shellbark, in its bark it resembles the Pignut. Its distin-
guishing characters are its nuts, its large leaves of seven to
nine leaflets, its large terminal bud and the pleasant resinous
fragrance of its leaves.

PIGNUT

Hicoria glhbra. Cdrya porclna. Cdrya microcdrpa.

Common throughout the northern states, ranges south as far as
Florida and southwest to Texas. Prefers dry ridges and hillsides,
but tolerates many different conditions. Rises to a hundred feet in
the forest, but in the open is shorter, with a narrow head of slender,
sometimes pendulous branches. Has the stout tap roots of all the
hickories.

Bark.— Light gray with shallow fissures and close appressed scales,
rarely exfoliate. Branchlets slender, marked with pale lenticels, at
first slightly angled, pale green, scurfy or downy ; later they become
light red brown, smooth, and finally turn dark gray. The leaf-scars
are comparatively small, semiorbicular to oblong, obscurely lobed,
slightly emarginate at apex.

Wood. — Either dark or light brown, sapwood nearly white ; heavy,
hard, close-grained, tough and elastic. Largely used in the manu-
facture of agricultural implements. Sp. gr., 0.8217 ; weight of cu.
ft., 51.21 Ibs.

Winter Buds. — Terminal buds one-fourth to one-half of an inch
long, narrow-oval, acute, or obtuse, two or three times as large as
the axillary buds. The outer scales are acute, often slightly keeled,
frequently long pointed at apex, reddish brown, beginning to unfold
early in autumn, frequently fall before winter or early in spring.
The inner scales increase in size when spring growth begins, fre-
quently becoming two and a half inches long, and one and one-fourth
inch wide, lanceolate to obovate, yellow green, more or less tinged
with red, downy and persistent until the leaf is half grown.

Leaves. — Alternate, compound, eight to twelve inches long. Leaf-
lets five to seven, rarely nine. Variety microcarpa habitually five.

290

PIGNUT

Fruiting Spray of Pignut, Hicoria glabra (Carya porciiia).

Leaves 8' to 12' long.

WALNUT FAMILY

Terminal leaflet larger than the others, often decurrent on slender
stalk. Other leaflets are oblong to obovate-lanceolate, rounded
equally or unequally at base, sharply serrate with incurved teeth,
acute or acuminate. Leaflet vernation involute. Upper leaflets
six to eight inches long, two to two and one-half broad, the lowest
pair much smaller. They come out of the bud bright bronze green,
hairy ; when full grown are thick, firm, smooth, dark yellow green
above, paler beneath. In autumn they turn clear or rusty yellow.
Petioles slender, usually smooth, grooved slightly, enlarged at
base.

Flowers. — May, June, when leaves are half grown. Monoecious.
Staminate flowers borne in slender catkins, three to seven inches
long, usually three catkins on one stout peduncle. The flowers are
on short pedicels, yellow green, tomentose ; bract lanceolate, acute,
hairy ; calyx-lobes rounded, ovate ; stamens four, anthers nearly
sessile, dark yellow. Pistillate flowers in a two to five-flowered
spike ; bract is lanceolate, acute ; bractlets and calyx dark green,
hairy ; stigmas yellow, and wither before the anthers shed their
pollen.

Fruit. — Variable, fig-form, ellipsoidal, subglobose. rounded or
depressed at apex, abruptly or gradually narrowed at the base, often
obscurely winged to the middle or entirely to the base. In some
forms the four valves open and discharge the nut, in others they
partly open and retain it. Nut is oblong, oval, or subglobose, with
smooth hard shell, thick or thin. Kernel small, sweet or slightly
bitter.

Distinguishing Characters. — Bud scales imbricate ; staminate
catkins borne on branches of the year. Leaflets five, seven or nine,
oblong or obovate-lanceolate. Fruit pyriform or globose ; husk
thin, slightly ridged at the sutures, not splitting freely to the base ;
nut varying in form, thick-shelled, kernel sweet ; bark closely fur-
rowed, rarely hanging in loose plates.

• <^»'«.!vf

Hicoria glabra is a beautiful tree and certainly worthy of a
pleasanter name than that of Pignut. But the early settlers
of this country judged trees by the standard of use rather
than beauty ; and as the fruit of this tree did not compare fa-
vorably with that of the Shellbark, both tree and fruit were
given over to the pigs without question. However, another
explanation of the name is given. The typical shape of the
fruit is pyriform, it looks not unlike a small fig and it has
been suggested that pignut is a corruption of fignut. But
there seem to be no facts upon which to base this theory as
there is no record that the tree was ever called fignut, and
the earliest records mention it as pignut,

292

PIGNUT

Fruiting Spray of Pignut, Hicoria glabra (Carya microcarpa).

Leaves 4' to 7' long.

WALNUT FAMILY

Hicoria glabra now includes Carya microcarpa and Carya
porcina of Gray. In the species as now constituted the fruit
varies greatly in form, being oval or globular as well as pyri-
form. The husk is always thin, smooth, often obscurely
winged, and divided into four unequal valves. The kernel at
first is sweet to the taste, but finally bitter.

The number of leaflets varies from five to seven. In the
variety C. microcarpa the leaflets are five and the leaf as a
whole is a small but faithful copy of that of the Shellbark.
But other trees are found whose leaflets are oftener seven
than five.

The bark is firm, close, usually divided by small fissures ;
it rarely exfoliates, but when it does the plates are not more
than five or six inches long.

£94

BETULACE^E— BIRCH FAMILY

BIRCH

Bdtula.

Betula is derived by Pliny from bitumen. Birch by some is
derived from Betu its Celtic name ; by others from the Latin
batuere, to beat, because the fasces of the Roman lictors, which
were always made of birch rods, were used to drive back the
people.

There are in North America nine birches of which six are
trees, and five of these flourish east of the Rocky Mountains.
All are trees of singular grace and beauty and possess a cer-
tain distinction of character which fits them for an honored
place in parks and pleasure grounds. The roots are fibrous
and the trees can be readily transplanted. All grow rapidly.

The bark of all the birches is characteristically marked
with long horizontal lenticels, and often separates into thin
papery plates, especially upon the Paper Birch. It is prac-
tically imperishable, due to the resinous oil it contains. Its
decided color gives the common names Red, White, Black,
and Yellow to the different species. The buds form early
and are full grown by midsummer, all are lateral, no terrhinal
bud is formed ; the branch is prolonged by the upper lateral
bud. The wood of all the species is close-grained with satiny
texture and capable of taking a fine polish ; its fuel value is
fair.

The leaves of the different species vary but little. All
are alternate, doubly serrate, feather-veined, petiolate, and

295

BIRCH FAMILY

branchlets of the year.

stipulate. Apparently they often appear in pairs, but these
pairs are really borne on spur-like two-leaved lateral
branchlets.

The flowers are monoecious, opening with
or before the leaves and borne in three-
flowered clusters in the axils of the scales of
drooping or erect aments. Staminate aments
are pendulous, clustered or solitary in the
axils of the last leaves of the branch of the
year or near the ends of the short lateral

They form in early
autumn and re-
main rigid dur-
ing the winter.
The scales of
the staminate
aments when
mature are broadly ovate,
rounded, yellow or orange
color below the middle,
dark chestnut brown at
apex. Each scale bears
two bractlets and three
sterile flowers, each flower consisting of a
sessile, membranaceous, usually two-lobed,
calyx. Each calyx bears four short fila-
ments with one-celled anthers or strictly,
two filaments divided into two branches,
each bearing a half-anther. Anther cells
open longitudinally. The pistillate aments
are erect or pendulous, solitary ; terminal
on the two-leaved lateral spur-like branch-
lets of the year. The pistillate scales are

Branch of Red Birch,
Betuia iiigra, Show-
ing the Staminate
Aments as they Ap-
pear in Winter.

Sweet Birch, Betuia

Staminate
Aments 3' to 4 long. -

lenta. Staminate oblong.ovate thrCC-lobed, pale yellow green

often tinged with red, becoming brown at
maturity. These scales bear two or three fertile flowers,
each flower consisting of a naked ovary. The ovary is

BIRCH
j

compressed, two-celled, crowned with two slender styles ;
the ovule is solitary.

The ripened pistillate ament is called a strobile and bears
tiny winged nuts, packed in the protecting curve of each
brown and woody scale. These nuts are pale chestnut brown,
compressed, crowned by the persistent stigmas. The seed
fills the cavity of the nut. The
cotyledons are flat and fleshy. All
the species are easily grown from
seed.

Michaux arranged the birches

intO tWO groups One, including Rear View of a Staminate Scale and

. . ,, t Front View of a Pistillate Scale

trees whose pistillate aments are of Yellow Birch) Betula Lutea .
sessile and erect : the Black, the Enlarged.
Yellow and the Red ; the other,

those whose pistillate aments are stalked and pendulous :
the Canoe, the White and the common Betula alba of Europe.
Remains of the group appear in the cretaceous rocks of
Dakota, and during the tertiary period the genus existed
throughout the northern central plateau of North America
and at the same time abounded in Europe.

WHITE BIRCH. GRAY BIRCH. ASPEN-LEAVED BIRCH

Betula populifblia,

Least common of the birches ; found on dry, gravelly, barren mar-
gins of swamps and ponds. Short-lived, twenty to thirty feet high.
Grows very rapidly. Ranges from Nova Scotia and lower St. Law-
rence River southward mostly in the coast region to Delaware, and
westward through northern New England and New York to southern
shore of Lake Ontario. Leaves tremulous.

Bark.— Chalky white or gray white, usually firm but easily sep-
erable into thin plates ; dark triangular markings scattered over the
trunk and especially below the branches. At the base of large trees
nearly black and broken irregularly by shallow fissures. Branchlets
at first reddish brown, closely dotted with round lenticels, then
dark brown, and finally white near the trunk. Practically incor-
ruptible,

297

BIRCH FAMILY

Wood. — Light brown, sapwood paler; light, soft, close-grained,
not strong, checks badly in drying, not durable in contact with the
ground, takes a fine polish. Used for spools, shoe pegs, wood pulp
and barrel hoops. Fuel value not high, but burns with bright flame.
Sp. gr., 0.5760; weight of cu. ft., 35.90 Ibs.

Winter Buds. — Slender, brown, one-fourth of an inch long.
Leaves. — Alternate, simple, triangular, two and a half to three
inches long, one and one-half to two inches wide, truncate or slightly
wedge-shaped at base, doubly serrate, with spreading glandular
teeth, acute or acuminate. They come out of the bud bright yellow
green, glutinous. When full grown are dark shining green above,
paler shining green beneath ; midribs yellow, raised, rounded, often
marked with minute black glands, primary veins conspicuous. In
autumn they turn a pale yellow. Petioles long, slender, slightly
twisted, often reddish. Stipules ovate, pale green, tinged with red,
caducous.

Flowers. — April, before the leaves. Staminate flowers borne on
terminal catkins which are solitary or in pairs ;
when mature are from three to four inches long.
These form in the late summer, and during the
winter they vary from one and one-quarter to one
and one-half inches long, bright pale green, and
very rigid. Scales ovate, acute, apiculate. Pis-
tillate aments slender, one-half inch long ; scales
ovate, acute pale green, glandular ; peduncles
furnished with conspicuous bractlets.

Fruit. — Strobiles cylindrical, an inch long,
obtuse at base and apex ; peduncles slender,
drooping ; scales pubescent, wedge-shaped at
base, three-lobed, lateral lobes larger than the
White Birch, Betnia middle, spreading. Nut oval, acute or rounded
popuiifoiia. Strobiles at base, winged ; the wings rather broader than
pendulous, i' long. the seed.

Most beautiful
Of forest trees — The Lady of the woods.

— COLERIDGE.

The silvery stems
Of delicate birch trees.

—KEATS.

Sometimes trees ascend vertically and having arrived at a certain height, in
an air perfectly unobstructed, fork off in various tiers, and send out their
branches horizontally like an apple tree ; or incline them towards the earth like
a fir ; or hollow them in the form of a cup, like the sassafras ; or round them
into the shape of a mushroom like the pine ; or straighten them into a pyramid
like the poplar ; or roll them as wool upon the distaff like the cypress ; or suffer
them to float at the discretion of the winds like the birch.

— ST. PIERRE.

298

WHITE BIRCH

Fruiting Branch of White Birch, Betula populifolia.

Leaves 2^' to 3' long, i^' to 2' long.

BIRCH FAMILY

This description, " to float at the discretion of the winds,"
admirably characterizes the attitude of the White Birch.
The white stem rises unbroken to the summit of the tree,
the branches come out at a large angle, go out horizontally,
or perhaps dip a little and divide into branchlets so long,
slender, and delicate that they have no rigidity but yield to
every impulse of the passing breeze. The leaves flutter as
freely as those of the Aspen for the petioles though not lat-
erally compressed are long, slender, and slightly twisted,
which puts the leaf into such unstable equilibrium that it re-
sponds to the lightest motion of the air.

The outer layer of the bark is thin and white, both on the
stem and larger limbs, but neither it nor the inner layer will
separate from the wood as easily as will that of the Canoe or
Paper Birch. A marked characteristic is the triangular black
spots appearing on the trunk beneath every limb as well as
in other places.

Although the wood quickly decays in contact with the
earth, the bark under similar conditions remains unchanged.
This is due to a peculiar resin found in the bark which ren-
ders it impervious to water.

The tree loves rocky barren woods, old fields and aban-
doned farms, and in New England has the familiar name of
Old Field Birch. It is the least common of all the birches
and is rarely found growing in groups. It is plainly unable to
hold its own in competition with other trees, and is found
largely on exhausted sandy soils where other trees are unable
to grow. When planted, however, it does not disdain moist,
fertile land and acts as an excellent nurse for other trees, but
under no conditions is it long-lived.

The Gray Birch so closely resembles the common Euro-
pean birch, Betula alba, that it has by some botanists been
classed as a variety of that species. However, it grows with
less vigor and does not attain so large a size.

The European Birch appears in American lawns and parks
principally in its cultivated varieties. The most common
of these is Betula alba var. laciniata, the cut-leaved Birch.

300

WHITE BIRCH

Trunk of White Birch, Betula popnlijolia.

BIRCH FAMILY

Others are var. pendula, weeping ; var. fastigiata, pyramidal ;
var. pubescens, leaf covered with white down. All are
beautiful.

PAPER BIRCH. CANOE BIRCH. WHITE BIRCH

Betula papyri/era.

Widely distributed over a northern range. Sixty to seventy feet
high. When young forming a compact pyramidal head, in old age
becoming a branchless trunk, supporting a round-topped open head
of pendulous branches. Prefers rich moist hillsides, borders of
streams, lakes, and swamps. Sap flows freely in spring and by boil-
ing can be made into syrup.

Bark. — On old trees, near the ground, dark brown or nearly
black, sharply and irregularly furrowed. At the base of young
trees, brown tinged with red, separating irregularly into large plates.
Higher on the trunks of old trees, on young stems and large limbs,
creamy white, shining on the outer surface, bright orange on the
inner, marked with horizontal lenticels and separating freely into
thin papery layers. Branchlets slender, light green, then orange
and finally through red and brown in the course of years they be-
come white. Bark contains not only an astringent principle but a
resinous balsamic oil.

Wood. — Light brown tinged with red ; light, hard, tough, close-
grained and strong. Used for spools, shoe-lasts, wood pulp, fuel.

Sp. gr., 0.5955 ; weight of cu.
ft., 37.11 Ibs.

Winter Buds. — Ovate,
acute, dark brown, resinous, a
quarter of an inch long.

Leaves. — Alternate, simple,
two to three inches long, one-
half to two inches wide, ovate,
heart-shaped or rounded or
wedge-shaped at base, coarsely,
doubly, or irregularly serrate
with spreading teeth, abruptly
acuminate; midrib slender,

Paper Birch. Betula papyrifera. Strobiles pen- yellow, raised and rounded,

dulous, \%' to 2' long. and marked with minute black

glands. They come out of the

bud bright green, pubescent, resinous; when full grown are thick,
firm, dull dark green above, pale yellow green beneath, covered with
minute black glands. In' autumn they turn clear pale yellow.

302

PAPER BIRCH

Fruiting Sprays of Paper Birch, Betula papyrifera.
Leaves 2' to 3' long, y2f to 2' broad.

BIRCH FAMILY

Petioles stout, yellow, covered with black glands, enlarged at base,
slightly grooved. Stipules ovate, acute, light green, caducous.

Flowers.— April, monoecious, before the leaves. Staminate cat-
kins clustered or in pairs, when mature become three to four inches
long. Pistillate catkins one inch to one and a half inches long,
peduncles bibracteolate, three-fourths to one inch in length. Scales
lanceolate, pale green ; styles bright red.

Fruit. — Strobiles, cylindrical, elongated, pendulous, long-stalked.
Scales glabrous, wedge-shaped at base, rather longer than broad,
with short, wide-spreading, rounded lobes. Nut oval, small, nar-
rower than its wings.

Give me of your bark, O Birch-tree !
Of your yellow bark, O Birch-tree !
Growing by the rushing river
Tall and stately in the valley !
I a light canoe will build me,
Build a swift Cheemaun for sailing,
That shall float upon the river,
Like a yellow leaf in Autumn,
Like a yellow water-lily !

— HENRY W. LONGFF.LLOW.

The great triumph of the birch is the bark canoe. The design of a savage,
it yet looks like the thought of a poet and its grace and fitness haunt the imagina-
tion. I suppose its production was the inevitable result of the Indians' wants
and surroundings, but that does not detract from its beauty. It is, indeed, one
of the fairest flowers the thorny plant of necessity ever bore.

— JOHN BURROUGHS.

The Paper Birch possesses the most wonderful bark of any
of our native trees. In outward color it is a lustrous creamy
white, so brilliant that its gleam can be seen in the
forest as far as the eye can reach. Beneath the smooth
white skin are the paper-like layers which readily separate
into thin sheets and vary in color from cream to light tan.
This bark is the joy and pride of every woodsman whether
he be tourist, guide, or hunter. It makes his canoe, it roofs
his cabin, it becomes for the time his dinner-service, it is a
cup, a pail, a cloak, an umbrella. The thin papery layers
into which the bark separates are of so firm a texture that it
is possible both to write and paint upon them. Curious
traditions gather about this natural paper. Pliny and Plu-
tarch agree that the famous books of Numa Pompilius, written

304

PAPER BIRCH

Trunk of Paper Birch, Betula papvrifera.

BIRCH FAMILY

seven hundred years before Christ, were of birch bark ; and
the sibylline leaves purchased by Tarquin are by some be-
lieved to have been of the same material.

The inner bark contains starch so abundantly that it is a
valuable resource to the people of the extreme north who
bruise and mix it with their food.

RED BIRCH. RIVER BIRCH

Bttula ntgra.

Eighty to ninety feet in height, trunk often dividing into two or
three slightly diverging limbs and forming a round-topped pictu-
resque head. Branches slender and pendulous. Loves the banks of
streams and ponds and swamps, where the water overflows. Ranges
from Massachusetts to Florida and reaches its largest size in the
low lands of the south.

Bark. — Dark red brown, deeply furrowed, scaly. On branches
and young stems bright red or reddish brown, or silver white,
marked with horizontal lenticels. Separates into thin papery plates,
which curl back and show the pinkish inner layer. Branchlets at
first coated with tomentum, later become dark red and shining
and marked with pale lenticels ; finally they become dull red brown
and after a time the bark begins to separate into thin flakes.

Wood. — Light brown, sapvvood pale ; light, strong, close-grained,
used in manufacture of furniture and wooden ware. Sp. gr., 0.5762;
weight of cu. ft., 35.91 Ibs.

Winter Buds. — Bright chestnut brown, shining, ovate, acute, one-
fourth inch long, inner scales enlarge when spring growth begins and
become three-fourths of an inch long, strap-shaped, pale brown tinged
with red, hairy.

Leaves. — Alternate, one and one-half to three inches long, one to
two inches broad, broadly ovate, wedge-shaped at base, doubly
serrate, often almost lobed, acute. They come out of the bud,
pale yellow green, hairy and tomentose ; when full grown are thin,
tough, deep shining green above, pale yellow green ; midrib stout,
conspicuous, hairy beneath. In autumn they turn a pale dull yellow.
Petioles short, slender, flattened, tomentose. Stipules ovate, pale
green, caducous.

Flowers. — March, April, before the leaves. Staminate catkins
clustered in threes, form in late summer, during winter are three-
fourths of an inch long, rigid. Scales dull chestnut brown. When
flowers open the catkins are two to three inches long, scales light
yellow and bright chestnut brown. Pistillate catkins are about one-

306

RED BIRCH

Red Birch, Be tula nigra.

Leaves \%' to 3' long, i' to 2' broad.

BIRCH FAMILY

third of an inch long ; scales bright green, ovate, downy ; peduncles

tomentose, bibracteolate.

Strobiles.— Ripen in May and June ; cylindrical, oblong, erect, an

inch to an inch and a half long, half an inch thick. Scales oblong-

obovate, hairy, three-lobed,
lateral lobes shorter than the
central. Nut oval, downy ;
wing as broad or broader than
the seed.

Nearly every genus of
trees contains one species
that loves the water.
Among the maples it is the

.biles erect, Re^ amQng ^ ^^ ^ .g

the Black, among the oaks
it is the Swamp White and among the birches it is the Red.
Like otber trees that grow from choice upon lands subject
to inundation, it ripens its fruit early and casts it broadcast
in June when streams are low. Germination takes place at
once ; and each little seedling becomes several inches high
and well established in life before the autumn rains inundate
its birthplace and threaten its existence.

Other birches love the north, climb to the mountain tops
and make their way well into the arctic regions ; but the Red
Birch seeks warmth not cold, crowds to the water's very
edge and dips its pendulous branches into the quiet or run-
ning stream. It is the water nymph of the birches ; and
reaches its greatest size in the damp misty lowlands of Texas
or among the bayous of Louisiana or in the swamps of Flor-
ida. And yet it possesses all the family ability of harmoniz-
ing with its environment and will grow rapidly in good soil
quite remote from water.

The Red Birch is a beautiful tree ; the bark of a full grown
trunk is dark,, but small stems and branchlets are really red
and in the sunlight are positively brilliant. This red bark
easily sloughs loose and shows the paler bark beneath. The
spray is particularly delicate, the twigs and branchlets long,
flexible, and pendulous.

308

YELLOW BIRCH

Yellow Birch, Betula Intea.

Leaves 3' to 4' long, i' to 2' broad.

BIRCH FAMILY

YELLOW BIRCH. GRAY BIRCH

Bdtula liitea.

Usually thirty to forty feet in height, occasionally one hundred ;
reaches its largest size in Canada, northern New England and New
York. Ranges as far south as Tennessee and North Carolina. Pre-
fers rich moist, uplands. Forms a broad round-topped head with
pendulous branches.

Bark. — Aromatic and slightly bitter. On old trunks, silvery yel-
low gray, divided by irregular fissures into large thin plates ; on
young trunks silvery gray or dull yellow or shining golden, either
close and firm or somewhat divided, the edges of the irregular fis-
sures breaking into thin layers, more or less rolled at border. The
branchlets at first are green, afterward lustrous brown, finally dull
brown.

Wood. — Light brown tinged with red ; heavy, strong, hard, close-
grained with satiny surface, susceptible of a fine polish. Used in
the manufacture of furniture, hubs of wheels, small boxes, butter
moulds and for fuel. Sp. gr., 0.6553 ; weight of cu. ft., 40.84 Ibs.

Winter Buds. — Acute, light chestnut brown, a quarter of an inch
long.

Leaves. — Alternate, often in pairs, three to four inches long, an
inch to two inches wide, ovate or oblong-ovate, wedge-shaped or
slightly heart-shaped at the slightly oblique base, doubly serrate,
acute or acuminate, slightly aromatic. They come out of the bud
plicate, bronze green or red, hairy ; when full grown are dull dark
green above, yellow green below ; midrib stout, pri-
mary veins conspicuous, impressed above, hairy be-
low. In autumn they turn a clear pale yellow. Pet-
ioles short, slender, grooved, hairy ; stipules ovate,
pale pinkish green, caducous.

Flowers. — April, before the leaves ; monoecious.
Staminate catkins form in late summer, usually in
groups, three-fourths to one inch long. Scales pale
chestnut brown, ovate. When the flowers open the
catkins are three to three and one-half inches long ;
scales pale yellow green below the middle, dark
brown above. Pistillate catkins about two-thirds of
Yellow Th-ch Be an inch lonS > scales acute, pale green below, light
tula lutea. Stro- red, hairy above.

biles erect, i' to Fruit. — Strobiles erect, sessile or short-stalked,
\W long. oblong-ovoid, an inch to an inch and a half in length,

three-quarters of an inch thick. Scales wedge-
shaped, broad or narrow, three-lobed, lobes variable. Nut oval or
obovate, one-eighth inch long ; wing rather narrower than the seed.

310

YELLOW BIRCH

This birch is named from its golden bark. On an old
trunk, the bark simply suggests the color, it is rather a silver
gray with a yellow flush ; and in extreme old age the surface
is shaggy with light gray plates the size of a hand. On
young trees, when the yellow inner bark is covered by an- un-
broken, thin, brown, outer layer the result is a dull yellowish
brown. But, now and then, in the leafless woods one comes
upon a young tree six or eight inches in diameter upon whose
trunk the thin outer bark has been loosened and frayed by
the wind until it clings a mass of silvery shreds and patches,
revealing in the March and April sunshine an inner bark of
the most exquisite golden yellow. This disheveled wood-
nymph of the forest is rare, but once found its beauty is never
forgotten.

SWEET BIRCH, BLACK BIRCH, MAHOGANY BIRCH

Bdtula Unta.

Generally distributed, most abundant northward, but reaches its
greatest size on the mountains of Tennessee. Usually seventy to
eighty feet high with a round-topped, open head. Prefers moist
situations, mountain slopes and borders of streams.

Bark. — Spicy aromatic. Dark brown with a reddish tinge. On
old trunks deeply furrowed and broken into thick irregular plates ;
on young stems and on branches close, smooth, lustrous and marked
with pale horizontal lenticels. Does not separate into thin layers as
the paper birch. Branchlets at first pale green, slightly viscid, later
they change from dark orange brown to bright red brown and finally
to dark reddish brown.

Wood. — Dark brown tinged with red, sapwood light brown or yel-
low ; heavy, very strong, hard, close-grained, satiny and capable of
receiving a fine polish. Used largely in the manufacture of furni-
ture, hubs of wheels, small articles and fuel. Sp. gr., 0.7617 ; weight
of cu. ft., 47.47 Ibs.

Winter £uds.—Pz\e chestnut brown, slender, acute, one-fourth
of an inch long.

Leaves.— Alternate, two and one-half to six inches long, one and
a half to three inches wide, ovate or oblong-ovate, heart-shaped or
rounded, often unequal at base, doubly serrate, acute or acuminate.
They come out of the bud plicate, pale green, downy ; when full

BIRCH FAMILY

grown are dull dark green above, pale yellow green below ; midrib
yellow, primary veins indistinct above but conspicuous and hairy
below. In autumn they turn a clear bright yel-
low. Petioles stout, hairy, deeply grooved
above. Stipules ovate, pale green or nearly
white, caducous.

Flowers. — April, before the leaves. Stami-
nate catkins form in late summer, during winter
are three-fourths of an inch long. When the
flowers open the catkins become three to four
inches long, and in general appearance become
bright yellow due to the abundant anthers.
Scales ovate, bright red brown above the mid-
dle, pale brown below. Pistillate catkins from
one-half to three-fourths of an inch long, scales

Sweet Birch, Bctnla Icnta. OVate> Pale §reen '> StYleS CXSCrted, slender,
Strobiles erect, i' to Pale Pink-

\yj long. Fruit. — Strobiles oblong-ovoid, smooth, ses-

sile, erect, one to one and one-half inches long,
one-half an inch thick. Scales smooth, with rounded or acute lat-
eral lobes. Nut obovate, pointed at base, about as broad as its wing.

The Black Birch which is a handsome tree with its tall dark stem, graceful
fragrant branches and dark green foliage, is especially beautiful in early spring
when its long staminate catkins hang from the leafless branches changing them
for a few days into fountains of golden spray and making it the most conspicu-
ous of the American birches.

— CHARLES S. SARGENT.

The names White, Black, and Yellow are often given to
trees with very little justification, but in the case of the
birches they express differences which are apparent to the
most casual observer. The trunk of the White Birch is really
white, the bark of the Yellow Birch is indeed yellow and that
of the Black Birch is so flark that it may easily be considered
black. The bark resembles in general appearance that of the
common cherry tree, whence the name Cherry Birch, and like
that of the other birches, it divides in lines running hori-
zontally around the tree. On old trees it becomes very
rough and clings in horizontal plates, loosened and often
curled at one end. The inner bark is very fragrant and
has a pleasant • spicy taste. For this reason it is called
Sweet Birch. The bark of the Yellow Birch is also aromatic
but not to the same degree. This flavor is due to an essen-

312

SWEET BIRCH

Sweet Birch, Belula lenta.

Leaves 2^' to 6' long, \y2f to 3' broad.

BIRCH FAMILY

tial oil identical with that obtained from Gaultheria pro-
cumbens, and which under the name of Wintergreen Oil is
employed as a remedy for rheumatism. The remedial
agent is salicylic acid, of which it contains a large percen-
tage.

The wood when first cut has a beautiful rosy tinge which
deepens with age and exposure. The difference between the
annual circles gives it a general clouded appearance and this
is especially marked in a section taken from the point of
union of a large limb with the body of the tree. When such
a piece is skilfully stained and polished, it closely resembles
mahogany. As a matter of fact, all good imitations of ma-
hogany are birch. However, the wood is beautiful enough
to have a value of its own.

ALDER

Alnus glutin6sa.

Th'e northern native alders east of the Rocky Mountains
are shrubs, following the water-courses and nowhere attain-
ing the arborescent form. They are aquatic, enjoying situa-
tions too wet for either willow or poplar.

The only alder tree which is commonly found in the northern
states is Alnus glutinosa, a European species which is fairly
naturalized. It is native to the entire continent of Europe
and although naturally aquatic will grow in good soil, some-
what removed from water.

The leaves are orbicular, obtuse, wedge-shaped at base
and serrated at margin. When young the leaves and stems
are somewhat glutinous, whence the specific name. The
bark is dark and furrowed, and the wood is valuable for but
one purpose. It will not endure alternate wet and dry, but if
constantly submerged it becomes extremely hard and virtu-
ally incorruptible.

The flowers are monoecious, the staminate blossoms are long
Jrooping catkins which form in the late summer and hang

ALDER

Fruiting Spray of Alder, Almus glutinosa.

Leaves i%' to 2' long.

BIRCH FAMILY

upon the tree stiff and rigid all winter long, but respond to
the first warmth of returning spring.

The pistillate blossoms are little cone-like catkins produced
in the spring. When these mature they open to let the seeds
fall but themselves remain upon the tree all winter and
frequently through the second summer.

HOP HORNBEAM. IRONWOOD

Ostrya virginihna.

Small, slender tree. Usually found on dry gravelly slopes and
ridges, often in the shade of oaks, maples, and other larger trees.
In Arkansas and Texas it reaches the height of fifty feet ; ranges
throughout the United States east of the Rocky Mountains.

Bark. — Grayish brown, furrowed and broken into narrow oblong
scales. Branchlets slender, tough, at first pale green, later dark red
brown. Rich in tannic acid.

Wood. — Light brown tinged with red, sapwood nearly white;
heavy, tough, exceedingly close-grained, very strong and hard.
Durable in contact with the soil and will take a fine polish. Used
for small articles like levers, handles of tools, mallets. Sp. gr.,
0.8284; weight of cu. ft., 51.62 Ibs.

Leaf Buds. — Ovate, acute, light chestnut brown, one-fourth of an
inch long. Inner scales enlarge when spring growth begins. No
terminal bud is formed.

Leaves. — Alternate, oblong-ovate, three to five inches long,
rounded, cordate, or wedge-shape, or sometimes unequal at the

base, sharply and
doubly serrate,
acute or acuminate ;
feather-veined, mid-
rib and veins prom-
inent on the under
side. They come
from the bud light
bronze green,

Branch of Hop Hornbeam, Ostrya virgimana, Showing the Smooth above and
Staminate Aments as they Appear in Winter. hairy beneath ; when

full grown are thin

extremely tough, dull dark yellow green above, pale yellow green
beneath. In autumn they turn a clear yellow. Petiole short, slen
der, hairy ; stipules caducous.

316

HOP HORNBEAM

Fruiting Spray of Hop Hornbeam, Ostrya virgtniana.

Leaves 3' to 5' long.

BIRCH FAMILY

Flowers. — April, May, with the leaves. Monoecious, apetalous;
the staminate naked in long pendulous aments. These aments
appear in midsummer about one-half an inch long, stiff, tomentose,
with light red brown scales ; they develop from lateral buds and are
conspicuous during the winter. In the spring they become about
two inches long, loose and drooping. The staminate flower is com-
posed of from three to fourteen stamens crowded on a hairy torus,
adnate to the base of a broadly ovate concave scale, which is con-
tracted at the apex into a sharp point, ciliate at margin, longer than
the stamens. The pistillate flowers are borne in erect lax aments,
each flower enclosed in a hairy sac-like body formed by the union of
a bract and two bractlets. Ovary, two-celled ; style short, two-
lobed ; ovule solitary.

Fruit. — Strobile, consisting of a number of fruiting sac-like in-
volucres, each inclosing a small flat nut. The fruit cluster is from
one to two inches long, borne on a hairy stem and resembles a hop.

To find in the forest a hop-bearing tree is to the uniniti-
ated an experience, and the fruit of this Hornbeam so closely
resembles that of the common hop-vine that it has given the

name to the tree. In-
deed, the tree seems
to have very little that
it can really call its
own, for it resembles
the birch in its leaf
and the beech in its
spray. One thing,
however, is individual,
it excels all the other
trees of the forest in
strength. When wood-
men need a lever they
seek at once for a Hop
Hornbeam, whence its
wild - wood name of
Leverwood.

Pistillate and Staminate Aments of Hop Hornbeam, . ...

Ostrya virginiana. TlllS IS O11C of the

solitary trees ; never

found in masses, it stands here and there in the forest and
chooses only cool, fertile, shaded situations. The wood

318

HORNBEAM

being exceedingly close-grained, the growth of the tree is
correspondingly slow. It can be easily raised from the seeds
which do not usually germinate until the second year after
they are planted. Traces of leaves and fruit are found in
the eocene and miocene rocks of Europe and in tertiary
times it ranged to Greenland.

HORNBEAM. BLUE BEECH

Carpinus carolinihna.

Some derive Carpinus from the Celtic words car, wood and pix,
the head, because of the use of the wood in making yokes for oxen ;
others refer it to carpentum, a sort of chariot which the Romans
made of this wood. Hornbeam alludes to the horny texture of the
wood.

— LOUDON.

Common along the borders of streams and swamps, loves a deep
moist soil. Varies from shrub to small tree, and ranges throughout
the United States east of the Rocky Mountains.

Bark. — On old trees near the base, furrowed. Young trees and
branches smooth, dark bluish gray, sometimes furrowed, light and
dark gray. Branchlets at first pale green, changing to reddish
brown, ultimately dull gray.

Wood. — Light brown, sapwood nearly white ; heavy, hard, close-
grained, very strong. Used for levers, handles of tools. Sp. gr.,
0.7286 ; weight of cu. ft., 45.41 Ibs.

Winter Buds. — Ovate, acute, chestnut brown, one-eighth of an
inch long. Inner scales enlarge when spring growth begins. No
terminal bud is formed.

Leaves. — Alternate, two to four inches long, ovate-oblong, rounded,
wedge-shaped, or rarely subcordate and often unequal at base,
sharply and doubly serrate, acute or acuminate. They come out of
the bud pale bronze green and hairy ; when full grown they are dull
deep green above, paler beneath ; feather-veined, midrib and veins
very prominent on under side. In autumn bright red, deep scarlet
and orange. Petioles short, slender, hairy. Stipules caducous.

•Flowers. — April. Monoecious, apetalous, the staminate naked in
pendulous aments. The staminate ament buds are axillary and
form in the autumn and during the winter resemble leaf-buds, only
twice as large ; these aments begin to lengthen very early in the
spring, when full grown are about one and one-half inches long.

319

BIRCH FAMILY

The staminate flower is composed of three to twenty stamens crowded
on a hairy torus, adnate to the base of a broadly ovate, acute, boat-
shaped scale, green below the middle, bright red at apex. The pis-
tillate aments are one-half to three-fourths of an inch long with
ovate, acute, hairy, green scales and bright scarlet styles.

Fruit. — Clusters of involucres, hanging from the ends of leafy
branches. Each involucre slightly incloses a small oval nut. The
involucres are short stalked, usually three-lobed, though one lobe
is often wanting ; halberd-shaped, coarsely serrate on one margin,
or entire.

In time it waxeth so hard that the toughness and hardness of it may be rather
compared to horn than unto wood ; and therefore it was called hornebeam or
hard-beam. The leaves of it are like the elme, saving that they be tenderer ;
among these hang certain triangular things, upon which are found knaps or lit-
tle buds in which is contained the fruit or seed.

— GERALD.

The Home bound tree is a tough kind of wood that requires so much paines
in riving as is almost incredible, being the best for to make bolles and dishes, not
being subject to cracke or leake.

— NEW ENGLAND'S PROSPECT.

This is a tree of temperate climates
enjoying neither extreme heat nor ex-
treme cold. In texture, its bark re-
sembles that of the beech, is dark
bluish gray instead of light gray and
for this reason is called Blue Beech.
It is credited in the books with forty
feet of height but rarely attains more
than twenty. A peculiarity of its
growth is the manner in which the
sinews of the branches seem to run
down the trunk as if the tree con-
struction were Gothic. The beech
often shows the same peculiarity but
rarely so marked as the hornbeam.

The branches are long, irregular,
crooked and often pendulous. Some-
times a broad flat-topped head of
foliage is formed, sometimes only a shapeless mass. The
branches are so tough and the tree so tolerant of the

120

A Pistillate and a Staminate
Ament of Hornbeam,
Carpinus carolinidna.

HORNBEAM

Fruiting Spray of Hornbeam, Carpinus caroliniaitj.

Leaves 2' to 4' long.

BIRCH FAMILY

knife that it has become the favorite tree for arbor-walks in
parks.

The flowers are monoecious ; the staminate flowers appear
in long, loose, pendulous catkins from axillary buds. The pis-
tillate, in loose half-erect catkins at the end of the spray.
Each pistillate flower is subtended by a bract which expands
with the growth of the fruit into a sort of leaf which gathers
around and protects a small oval nut. These fruit clusters
often remain on the trees long after the leaves have fallen.

The tree can be easily raised from the seed which does not
germinate until the second year. Traces of Carpinus have
been found in the tertiary rocks of Alaska and in the upper
miocene of Colorado and Nevada, regions from which the
genus has entirely disappeared.

322

CUPULIFER^E— OAK FAMILY

OAK

Quercus.

Quercus by some authorities is derived from two Celtic words
quer, fine, and cttex, a tree.

Jove's own tree

That holds the woods in awful sovereignty ;
For length of ages lasts his happy reign,
And lives of mortal men contend in vain.
Full in the midst of his own strength he stands,
Stretching his brawny arms and leafy hands,
His shade protects the plains, his head the hills commands.

— VIRGIL.

The oak is the most majestic of forest trees. It has been represented as
molding the same rank among the plants of the temperate hemispheres that the
lion does among the quadrupeds, and the eagle among birds ; that is to say it is
the emblem of grandeur, strength and duration ; of force that resists as a lion
is of force that acts.

— LOUDON.

The acorn is the only seed I can think of which is left by nature to take
care of itself. It matures without protection, falls heavily and helplessly to the
ground to be eaten and trodden on by animals, yet the few which escape and
those which are trodden under are well able to compete in the race for life.
While the elm and maple seeds are drying up on the surface, the hickories and
walnuts waiting to be cracked, the acorn is at work with its coat off. It drives
its tap root into the earth in spite of grass and brush and litter. No matter if it
is so shaded by forest trees that the sun cannot penetrate ; it will manage to
make a short stem and a few leaves the first season, enough to keep life in the
root which will drill deeper and deeper. When age or accident removes the
tree which has overshadowed it, then it will assert itself. Fires may run over
the land destroying almost everything else ; the oak will be killed to the ground
but it will throw up a new shoot the next spring, the root will keep enlarging and
when the opportunity comes will make a vigorous growth and throw out strong

32?

OAK FAMILY

side roots and often care no more for its tap root which has been its only support
than the frog cares for the tail of the tadpole after it has got on its own legs."

—ROBERT DOUGLAS in Garden and Forest.

This genus is one of close family ties and marked resem-
blances. The bark of every species is heavily charged with

tannic acid. The roots take hold of the

earth in two ways ; a strong tap root goes

down deep into the ground and at the same

time wide spreading horizontal roots keep

near the surface. The very poise of the

tree denotes

strength and

this quality

is present in

the humblest

member of

the family.
The leaves

vary in form.

In those groups
which contain the representative spe-
cies of the. genus the leaves are of a
shape unlike those of any other trees.

The character of the inflorescence
is the same in every species. It is
monoecious ; that is, the stameais and
pistils are separated, borne in different
flowers, but both kinds of flowers are
produced on the same branch. These
appear together, just when the leaves
are half grown. The staminate flowers
are found in the axils of quick falling
bracts which are borne on the rachis
of slender drooping aments produced
from separate or leafy buds in the

axils of last year's leaves, or from the axils of the inner
scales of the terminal bud, or from the axils of the leaves

324

Sprouting Acorn.

Staminate Aments of Scarlet

•\Qak, Quercus coccinca.

Ovaries of Preceding Year.

OAK

of the year. There is no corolla. The calyx is bell-shaped
and divided into four to six divisions. The "stamens, usually
four to six, with exserted filaments and oblong two-celled
anthers, are borne on the torus. The ovary has aborted.

The pistillate flowers are subtended by a quick falling bract
and are borne in few-flowered spikes, or on solitary peduncles
produced from the axils of the
leaves of the year. The calyx
is urn-shaped and grows fast to
the ovary. The stamens have
aborted.

The ovary is inferior, incom-
pletely three-celled and inclosed

more Or leSS by a growing SCaly A Staminate and a Pistillate Flower

involucre which in time develops ^J^* Oak' Quercus coccmea;
into the acorn cup. Styles are

usually three, short or long, erect or curved, generally per-
sistent on the fruit. There are two ovules in each cell, but
all save one fail to be nourished. The nut is a fruit formed
by the adhesion of an ovary to the calyx and matures either
the first or second year ; it is always surrounded at the
base, or more or less inclosed, by a woody involucre called
the cup. The acorn cup is of woody texture made up of a
large number of tiny scales which have grown together,
sometimes entirely, sometimes with free tips. The seed fills
the nut. The cotyledons are thick and fleshy, the radicle
minute. An acorn should never be allowed to become dry if
it is desired that it should germinate, for the vital principle
is fleeting.

American oaks in the popular mind have the reputation of
being slow growers, but this is based upon the habit of two or
three species rather than upon the habit of the family. The
White and the Bur Oaks grow slowly. The Scarlet Oak is mod-
erately slow. But the Black, the Swamp White, the Pin, and
the Red, under favorable conditions, will all grow rapidly in
their youth. Probably most oaks require a century to reach
maturity ; they rarely bear acorns under twenty years of age

325

OAK FAMILV

and increase in productiveness as they grow older. The
entire family is especially subject to attacks of the gall-fly.

Quercus belongs to the long-lived trees ; the life of some
species is believed to reach one thousand years. There are
of course no records of long life in America, but there are
oaks in England which are believed to have been old trees in
the time of William the Conqueror. Pliny mentions a Quer-
cus Ilex which was an old tree when Rome was founded and
which was still living in his time. In the United States the
largest specimens of the genus are found in the Mississippi
valley.

Remains of oak trees are found far north of their present
home in the miocene and eocene rocks of North America.

American oaks naturally divide themselves into groups
which are characterized by the shape of their leaves and the
time required to bring their fruit to maturity.

The first division comprises those species whose leaves
have either rounded lobes or are sinuate toothed, or entire,
but are destitute of bristles. These bloom in the spring and
mature their acorns the same season. They are called
the White Oak Group, or the Annuals. The White, Post,
Bur, Swamp White, Chestnut, Yellow, and Chinquapin are
Annuals.

The second division comprises those species whose leaves
have pointed lobes which terminate in bristles. These
bloom in the spring, but the acorn does not mature until the
autumn of the following year. They are called the Red Oak
Group, or the Biennials. The Red, Scarlet, Black, Spanish,
Pin, Bear, Black Jack, Shingle and Willow are Biennials. The
leaves of the Shingle and the Willow oak are destitute of
bristles, but the acorns mature the second year.

326

WHITE OAK

White Oak, Quercus alba.

Leaves 5' to c/ long, 3' to 4' broad.

OAK FAMILY

WHITE OAK

Quercus cllba.
Alba, white, referring to the pale tint of the bark.

Common ; grows to the height of eighty or one hundred feet with
a trunk three or four feet in diameter. Is tolerant of many soils,
often forms the principal tree of large tracts. Reaches its greatest
size in the valley of the lower Ohio. Is difficult to transplant and is
best grown from seed planted where the tree is to remain. Grows
rapidly.

Bark. — Light gray, varying to dark gray and to white ; shallow
fissured and scaly. Branchlets at first bright green, later reddish-
green and finally light gray.

Wood. — Light brown with paler sapwood ; strong, tough, heavy,
fine-grained, durable and beautiful. Used for construction, ship-
building, cooperage, agricultural implements, cabinet-making, in-
terior finish of houses. Sp. gr., 0.7470 ; weight of cu. ft., 46.35 Ibs.

Winter Buds. — Reddish brown, obtuse, one-eighth of an inch
long.

Leaves. — Alternate, five to nine inches long, three to four inches
wide. Obovate or oblong, seven to nine-lobed, usually seven-lobed
with rounded lobes and rounded sinuses ; lobes destitute of bristles ;
sinuses sometimes deep, sometimes shallow. On young trees the
leaves are often repand. They come out of the bud conduplicate,
bright red above, pale below and covered with white tomentum ;
the red fades quickly and they become silvery greenish white and
shining; when full grown are thin, bright yellow green, shining or
dull above, pale, glaucous or smooth below ; midrib stout, yellow,
primary veins conspicuous. In late autumn they turn a deep red
and drop, or on young trees remain on the branches throughout the
winter. Petioles short, stout, grooved, and flattened. Stipules
linear, caducous.

Flowers. — May, when leaves are one-third grown. Staminate
flowers borne in hairy aments two and a half to three inches long ;
calyx bright yellow, hairy, six to eight-lobed, lobes shorter than the
stamens ; anthers yellow. Pistillate flowers borne on short pedun-
cles ; involucral scales hairy, reddish ; calyx lobes acute ; stigmas
bright red.

Acorns. — Annual, sessile or stalked ; nut ovoid or oblong, round
at the apex, light- brown, shining, three-quarters to an inch long ;
cup cup-shaped, encloses about one-fourth of the nut, tomentose on
the outside, tuberculate at base, scales with short obtuse tips becom-
ing smaller and thinner toward the rim.

328

WHITE OAK

Trunk of White Oak, Quercus alba.

OAK FAMILY

It seems idolatry with some excuse
When our forefather Druids in their oaks
Imagined sanctity.

— COWPER.

The White of all American oaks is most akin to the common and familiar
tree of European countries, the oak of myths and of poetry, of Dodona and
Hercynia, the tree which Celt and Briton worshipped, which shaded the Druid's
sacred fire and has at all times been the emblem of strength and longevity.

— Garden and Forest.

Although called the White Oak it is very unusual to find an
individual with an absolutely white bark, the usual color is an
ashen gray. All in all, this is the most valuable as well as
the most stately and beautiful of our oaks. In the forest it
reaches a magnificent height, in the open it develops into a
massive broad-topped tree with great limbs striking out at
wide angles and carrying the idea of rugged strength to the
very tips of their branches.

In spring the young leaves are exquisite in their delicate
silvery pink, covered with soft down as with a blanket. The
petioles are short, and the leaves which cluster close to the
ends of the shoots are pale green and downy with the result
that the entire tree has a misty, frosty look which is very
beautiful. This lovely vision continues for several days pass-
ing through the opalescent changes of soft pink, silvery white
and finally yellow green.

The autumnal tints of the White Oak are also beautiful ; its
rich purplish red glows in the forest and gives a splendor to
November days long after the maples and sumachs have shed
their leaves.

The leaves unfold late ; although they vary in form some-
what they keep fairly true to the type and need never be mis-
taken. The most divergent form approaches a skeleton leaf.
Oblong or obovate, they are usually seven-lobed with both
lobe and sinus rounded and the lobe destitute of a bristle at
its apex. The acorn is the product of the blossom of the
year and the kernel is sweet ; not sweet like that of the
chestnut or hickory but sweet compared to other acorns.

The White Oak lives long. The famous Charter Oak of

330

WHITE OAK

White Oak, Quercus alba.

Leaves 5' to </ long, 3' to 4" broad. Acorns y^' to

long.

OAK FAMILY

Hartford was believed to be several hundred years old.
" When the first settlers were clearing their land the Indians
begged that it might be spared. 'It has been the guide of
our ancestors for centuries,' said they, ' as to the time of
planting our corn ; when the leaves are the size of a mouse's
ears, then is the time to put the seed into the ground.' The
Indians' request was granted and the tree, afterward becom-
ing the custodian of the lost charter, became famous for all
time. It fell in a windstorm, August 21, 1856, and so deeply
was it venerated that, at sunset on the day of its fall, the bells
of the city were tolled and a band of music played funeral
dirges over its ruins."

The White Oak like the Black Walnut is passing and unless
replanted will ere long disappear. Two causes are at work
to bring this about. First, its valuable timber which marks
it for the axe ; and second, the sweetness of its nuts which
causes them to be eaten by the wild creatures, while the
bitter nuts of other oaks are allowed to germinate undis-
turbed.

The White Oak hybridizes freely with the Bur, the Post, and
the Chestnut Oaks.

POST OAK

Que'rcus minor.

A tree reaching the height of fifty or sixty feet, often a shrub.
Grows on dry sandy soil, or gravelly uplands. Ranges from Massa-
chusetts to southern New York and Michigan, southward to Florida,
and is the most abundant oak of central Texas.

Bark. — Grayish brown, deeply fissured into broad scaly ridges.
Branchlets at first covered with thick yellow brown tomentum, soon
they become light orange or reddish brown, still downy, finally they
are dark or gray brown.

Wood. — Brown, sapwood paler brown ; heavy, hard, close-grained,
durable in contact with soil. Used for fuel, fencing, and railway
ties. Sp. gr., 0.8367 ; weight of cu. ft., 52.14 Ibs.

Winter Buds. — Chestnut brown, ovate, downy, about one-eighth
of an inch long.

332

POST OAK

Post Oak, Quercus minor.

Leaves 5' to & long, 3' to 6' broad.

OAK FAMILY

Leaves. — Alternate, five to eight inches long, three to six inches
wide, oblong-obovate, base wedge-shaped or rounded, five-lobed ;
lowest pair of lobes small, middle pair broad and undulate or lobed,
terminal lobe itself three-lobed ; midrib broad, yellow, downy, pri-
mary veins conspicuous. They come out of
the bud convolute, dark red above, densely
covered with thick orange brown tomentum ;
when full grown are thick, leathery, deep
dark green, with stellate tufts of hairs scat-
tered over the upper surface, the under sur-
face covered with pale pubescence. In au-
tumn they turn dull yellow or brown. Peti-
ole stout, flattened, downy. Stipules brown,
caducous.

Flowers. — May, when leaves are one-third
grown. Staminate flowers borne on aments
three to four inches long, hairy. Calyx
hairy, yellow ; segments five, ovate, acute,
Post Oak, Querciis minor, laciniate ; anthers yellow, hairy. Pistillate
Acorns %' to i' long. flowers sessile or on peduncles ; stigmas
bright red.

Acorns. — Annual, sessile or stalked. Nuts one-half to one inch
long, oval or ovoid, reddish brown, sometimes striped with darker
brown, sometimes pubescent at apex. Cup cup-shaped or turbi-
nate, rarely saucer-shaped, usually enclosing one-third to one-half
the nut, reddish brown, tomentose, covered with close free scales.

The Post Oak loves to grow at the edge of the timber-land,
sheltered but not crowded by other trees. The bark is nearly
the color, but appears thicker than that of a White Oak
of the same age. It has a fine-checked, ** alligator-skin "
appearance but is even more regular, the vertical furrows
being so continuous as to suggest an up and down corru-
gation ; this feature is a conspicuous characteristic of the
trunk.

The tree has a straggling ungraceful habit of growth com-
pensated by the pleasing arrangement of the leaves ; the
branches do not subdivide freely but put out new shoots all
along their length, which gives them a close-wreathed appear-
ance ; and so the foliage is distributed evenly through the tree
instead of forming a canopy. The leaves are coarse and rough
on both sides. As to their shape, there seem to be two varie-
ties of tree ; on one tree the leaves have uniformly the char-

334

BUR OAK

acteristic cross-shape, while on a Post Oak just beside it the
leaves are irregular and varied in shape, with here and there
one of typical form.

BUR OAK. MOSSY-CUP OAK

Qu^rcus macrocdrpa.

Macrocarpa refers to the large size of the acorn.

The average height is eighty feet, but in the valley of the lower
Ohio it has been known to reach one hundred and sixty. Is tolerant
of many soils and grows rapidly. Ranges from Nova Scotia to Mani-
toba, south to Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Kansas and Texas.
Forms the " Oak Openings " of Minnesota.

Bark. — Light gray brown, deeply furrowed, scaly. Branches
with corky ridges. Branchlets stout, at first greenish, very pubes-
cent, afterwards light orange yellow, later ashy gray or light brown,
finally dark brown.

Wood. — Brown with paler sapwood, heavy, strong, close-grained,
durable in contact with the ground, valuable. Used in ship and
boat building, all sorts of construction, interior finish of houses, cab-
inet-making, cooperage, carriages, agricultural implements, railway
ties, fencing. Sp. gr., 0.7453 5 weight of cu. ft., 46.45 Ibs.

Winter Buds. — Light reddish brown, broadly ovate or acute or
obtuse, pubescent, one-eighth to one-fourth of an inch long.

Leaves. — Alternate, six to twelve inches long, three to six inches
wide, obovateor oblong, lyrately pinnatifid or deeply sinuately-lobed
or divided. Base usually long wedge-shaped, sinuses round, some-
times deep, sometimes shallow, lobes five to seven ; the terminal lobe
is largest, oval or obovate in outline, and crenately lobed ; or smal-
ler and three-lobed ; the lateral lobes are larger than the basal lobes.
A second form is broadly ovate and deeply or slightly crenately-lobed.
A third form is pinnatifidly cut into five or seven pairs of lateral
lobes with a three-lobed terminal. They come out of the bud con-
volute, downy, yellow green above and silvery white below. When
full grown are thick, leathery, bright green, shining above, pale
green or silvery and coated with pale or rusty pubescence below ;
midrib stout, pale, often pubescent below, primary veins conspicuous.
In autumn they turn dull yellow or yellowish brown. Petioles short,
stout, flattened and grooved, enlarged at the base. Stipules varying
in form, usually an inch in length, sometimes persistent.

Flowers. — May, when leaves are one -third grown. Staminate
flowers borne in slender hairy aments from four to six inches long ;
calyx yellow green, four to six-lobed, downy ; stamens four to six; fil-

335

OAK FAMILY

aments short ; anthers yellow. Pistillate flowers are sessile or borne
on short peduncles, involucral scales reddish, tomentose ; stigmas
bright red.

Acorns. — Annual, sessile or stalked, solitary, variable in size and
shape. Nut oval or ovate, pubescent, from one-half to two inches
in length ; cup cup-shaped, rarely shallow but usually deep, enclos-
ing from one-third to nearly the entire nut, light brown, downy inside,
outside dark brown, tomentose, covered with large imbricated scales
which near the rim become half free and form a fringe-like border.
Kernel white.

The Bur Oak ranges from Manitoba to Texas and from
the foot-hills of the Rocky Mountains to the Atlantic coast.
It goes farther to the northwest than any other of our eastern
oaks, it varies in size from a shrub in Manitoba, to a magnifi-
cent tree one hundred and sixty feet high in southern Illinois.
It is the most abundant oak of Kansas and of Nebraska, it
forms the scattered forests known as " The Oak Openings "
of Minnesota.

Three marked characters distinguish the Bur Oak. Its
leaves have a peculiar though variable outline which is un-
mistakable, rarely if ever are two alike, yet all bear so marked
a resemblance that there is no difficulty in distinguishing
them. Every Bur Oak leaf is somewhere, usually about the
middle, cut by two opposite sinuses nearly to the midrib.

The terminal lobe so formed may
itself be lobed or toothed or re-
pand, the lower division may be
lobed or entire, but with all these
variations the leaves retain a
general similarity.

In the spring they are yellow
green as they burst from the bud
and do not like so many others
take on a stain of red. At first

^ are downy and w°°"y but

soon become smooth and shining.
The leaves spread out horizontally from the new shoots and
the aments hang down in thick clusters. Their autumn col-

—6

BUR OAK

Bur Oak, Quercus macrocarpa.

Leaves 6' to u' long, 3' to & broad.

OAK FAMILY

oring, like their spring coloring, is without red, being bright
yellow or yellowish brown. The acorns are peculiar, but
the cup is the most noticeable thing about them. The
scales are so large and free that they make the. cup look
mossy. The rim is beautifully fringed. Then, too, this
mossy cup fairly embraces the nut, covers two-thirds to
three-fourths of its surface. This is the normal fruit ; at
the north where the tree changes to a shrub the acorn is
small and the cup loses its furbelows.

The corky wings which are frequently found on the young
branches form a third distinguishing character. These ridges
begin to form usually the third or fourth season and remain
for several years, finally disappearing as the branches become
old. When it is remembered that the^-cork of commerce is
the outer bark of an oak tree native to southern Europe, it
is interesting to see a northern species showing a tendency
to produce the same thing.

CHESTNUT OAK. ROCK CHESTNUT OAK

Quercus prlnus.

A mountain tree though found in the low lands, usually sixty to
seventy feet high, sometimes one hundred ; the trunk dividing into
large limbs not very far from the ground. Ranges from Maine to
Georgia and Alabama, westward through Ohio and southward to
Kentucky and Tennessee.

Bark. — Dark, fissured into broad ridges, scaly. Branchlets stout,
at first bronze green, later they become reddish brown, finally dark
gray or brown. Heavily charged with tannic acid.

Wood. — Dark brown, sapwood lighter ; heavy, hard, strong,
tough, close-grained, durable in contact with the soil. Used for
fencing, fuel, and railway ties. Sp. gr., 0.7499; weight of cu. ft.,
46.73 Ibs.

Winter Buds. — Light chestnut brown, ovate, acute, one-fourth to
one -half of an inch long.

Leaves. — Alternate, five to nine inches long, three to four and a
half wide, obovate to oblong-lanceolate, wedge-shaped or rounded
at base, coarsely crenately toothed, teeth rounded or acute, apex

338

CHESTNUT OAK

Chestnut Oak, Quercus prinus.

Leaves 5' to </ long, 3' to 4' broad.

OAK FAMILY

rounded or acute. They come out of the bud convolute, yellow
green or bronze, shining above, very pubescent below. When full
grown are thick, firm, dark yellow green, somewhat shining above,
pale green and pubescent below ; midribs stout, yellow, primary
veins conspicuous. In autumn they turn a dull yellow soon chang-
ing into a yellow brown. Petioles stout or slender, short. Stipules
linear to lanceolate, caducous.

Flowers. — May, when leaves are one-third grown. Staminate
flowers are borne in hairy aments two to three inches long; calyx
pale yellow, hairy, deeply seven to nine-lobed ; stamens seven to
nine ; anthers bright yellow. Pistillate flowers on short spikes ; pe-
duncles green, stout, hairy ; involucral scales hairy ; stigmas short,
bright red.

Acorns. — Annual, singly or in pairs ; nut oval, rounded or acute
at apex, bright chestnut brown, shining, one and a quarter to one
and one-half inches in length ; cup, cup-shaped or turbinate, usu-
ally inclosing one-half or one-third of the nut, thin, light brown and
downy within, reddish brown and rough outside, tuberculate near
the base. Scales small, much crowded toward the rim sometimes
making a fringe. Kernel white, sweetish.

The Chestnut Oak, Q. prinus, and the Yellow Oak, Q. acu-
minata, have many characters in common. The extreme
typical forms of each differ, but they vary toward each other
until the dividing line is difficult to
draw ; at their widest they are no far-
ther apart than the different forms of
the black oaks. The Chestnut Oak is
accredited in the books to dry soil and
sandy ridges but it loves wet situa-
tions as well. The little streams of
northern Ohio which make their way
into Lake Erie cut for themselves deep
channels through the yielding shale
and form ravines from fifty to two
chestnut Oak, Quercus, p>i- hundred feet deep. Down the sides
ro"ng. AC°rnS '*' ^ 1/2/ of these ravines and into the narrow
intervale crowd the chestnut oaks,

until the lowest" stands at the water's' edge, its pendulous
branches bending over the stream.

The leaves are obovate to oblong, with rounded teeth and

340

CHESTNUT OAK

Trunk of Chestnut Oak, Quercus prinits.

OAK FAMILY

eleven to thirteen pairs of primary veins. The foliage mass
is a light yellow green, the tree in the open becomes round-
topped. The acorns are large, long-oval, usually in pairs and
borne in deep cups which are rough outside and very downy
within. They are endowed with the power of quick germina-
tion and scarcely reach the ground before the shell breaks
and the radicle protrudes. The kernel is sweetish and eager-
ly eaten by the squirrels. The fruit is never abundant.

YELLOW OAK. CHESTNUT OAK. CHINQUAPIN

Que'rcus acuminclta.

A tree varying from thirty to one hundred or one hundred and
sixty feet high, head small, narrow, round-topped. Prefers a lime-
stone soil, ranges from New York westward through southern On-
tario to southeastern Nebraska and eastern Kansas, southward in
the Atlantic region to the District of Columbia, and west of the
Alleghanies southward to the Gulf of Mexico. _. :

Bark. — Light silvery gray, sometimes white, scaly. Branchlets
reddish green at first, then dark brown, finally gray or brown.

Wood. — Dark brown, sap wood pale brown ; heavy, hard, strong,
close-grained, durable in contact with the soil. Used for fencing,
cooperage, manufacture of wheels and railway ties. Sp. gr., 0.8605 ;
weight of cu. ft. , 53.63 Ibs.

Winter Buds. — Pale chestnut brown, ovate, acute, one-fourth of
an inch long.

Leaves. — Alternate, four to seven inches long and two to five inches
broad, oblong or lanceolate, wedge-shaped or rounded atbase,sinu-
ately toothed, teeth acute or rounded, each tipped with a small gland-
ular point, apex acute or acuminate. They come out of the bud
convolute, bronze green, hairy above, tomentose below, when full
grown are thick, light yellow green above, pale often silvery white,
downy below ; midribs stout, yellow ; primary veins conspicuous. In
autumn they turn deep yellow and scarlet. Petioles slender, slightly
flattened. Stipules linear or lanceolate, brown, caducous.

Flowers. — May, when leaves are one-third grown. Staminate flow-
ers borne in hairy aments, three or four inches long ; calyx light yel-
low, hairy, deeply six to eight-parted ; filaments short ; anthers yel-
low. Pistillate flowers sessile or borne in short spikes, tomentose;
stigmas bright red.

342

YELLOW OAK

Yellow Oak, Quercus acuminata.
Leaves 4' to 7' long, 2' to 5' broad-

OAK FAMILY

Acorns. — Annual, sessile or stalked, solitary or In pairs; nut oval,
rounded at apex, pubescent at apex, from one-half to one inch in
length, light chestnut brown ; cup cup-shaped inclosing one half of
the nut, thin light brown and downy inside, red brown outside, to-
mentose, scales thickened at the base, tips free toward the edge and
forming a fringe at the rim. Kernel sweet.

The Yellow Oak is one of the mid-continental trees, abun-
dant throughout the Mississippi valley and reaching the
greatest size in southern Indiana and Illinois. Like Quer-
cus alba it frequently occurs with a white bark. The three

chestnut oaks, Quercus prinus,
Quercus acuminata, and Quercus
prinoides run into each other by
insensible gradations, and speci-
mens will always be found on
the border line that will puzzle
the observer. Often when the
leaves vary, the acorns will fix the
species. Those of the Yellow
Oak are small compared with
those of the others. All are to a
certain degree edible.

The foliage mass of the Yel-
low Oak is a light yellow green. The leaves unfold a bronze
green, the newest sometimes with a purple tinge, and are
so crowded at the end of the branchlets that the foliage
has a tufted look. The autumnal tint is yellow, sometimes
flushed with scarlet.

Yellow Oak, Qurrcus acummata.
Acorn yz' to i' long.

DWARF CHINQUAPIN OAK. SCRUB CHESTNUT OAK

Quercus prinoides,

A shrub growing in clumps, varying in height from two to twelve
feet. Ranges from Massachusetts to North Carolina, westward to
Missouri, Nebraska, central Kansas, Indian Territory and eastern
Texas. In Missouri and Kansas becoming tree-like. Prefers dry
sandy or rocky soil.

344

CHINQUAPIN OAK

Chinquapin Oak, Quercus prinoides.

Leaves 3' to 6' long, i' to 3' broad.

OAK FAMILY

Bark. — Light brown ; branchlets at first dark green and scurfy,
finally reddish brown or ashen gray ; charged with tannic acid.

Winter Buds. — Light brown, ovate or globose, obtuse, one-eighth
of an inch long.

Leaves. — Alternate, obovate or oblong, three to six inches long, one
to three inches wide, wedge-shaped at base, coarsely undulate -toothed
with rounded or acute teeth, acute or acuminate apex ; midrib and
primary veins conspicuous. They come out of the bud convolute,
reddish yellow, hairy above, coated with silver tomentum below, with
dark glands at the points of the teeth, when full grown dark yellow
green, rather shining above, pale green or silvery white, covered
with soft fine pubescence below. In autumn they turn bright orange
and scarlet. Petioles stout, short, flattened, grooved ; stipules ca-
ducous.

Flowers. — Appear when leaves are one-third grown. Staminate
aments one and one-half to two and one-half inches long, hairy.
Calyx is pale yellow green, hairy, five to nine-lobed. Stamens five

to nine ; filaments slender ; anthers yel-
low. Pistillate flowers on short pedun-
cles ; involucral scales covered with sil-
very white tomentum ; stigmas bright
red.

Acorns. — Abundant, annual, sessile
or stalked ; nut oval, rounded or obtuse
at apex which is covered with white
down, pale chestnut brown, shining,
one-half to three-fourths of an inch long;

Chinquapin Oak, Quercus prinotdes. Seed SWCCt ; Cup COVCl'S One-half tO tWO-

Acorns yz' to %' long. thirds of the nut, thin, deeply cup-

shaped, light brown and downy inside,

hoary with tomentum outside. Scales loosely imbricated, red-
tipped, acute, thickened toward the base of the cup. The acorns
are not only eaten by swine and cattle but the wild creatures like
them as well.

SWAMP WHITE OAK

Quercus platanoldes. Quercus bicolor.

Ordinarily sixty to seventy feet high maximum height, one hun-
dred and ten, with narrow round-topped head and pendulous
branches. Ranges from Quebec to Georgia and westward to
Arkansas. Never abundant. Loves the borders of swamps.

Bark. — Gray brown, deeply fissured into flat ridges, scaly.
Branches greenish gray, smooth. On young stems smooth, flaky.
Branchlets at first stout, green, shining, later reddish brown, finally
gray brown or dark brown.

346

SWAMP WHITE OAK

Swamp White Oak, Quercus platanoides.

Leaves 5' to (/ long, 3' to 4' broad.

OAK FAMILY

Wood. — Pale brown, sapwood the same ; heavy, hard, strong,
tough, coarse-grained, checks in drying. Used in construction, in-
terior finish of houses, carriage and boat building, agricultural im-
plements, railway ties, fuel and fencing. Sp. gr., 0.7662 ; weight
of cu. ft., 47.75 lbs-

Winter Buds. — Pale chestnut brown, hairy, ovate, one-fourth of
an inch long.

Leaves. — Alternate, five to six inches long, two to four inches
broad, obovate or oblong-obovate, gradually narrowed and wedge-
shaped at base, margin coarsely sinuate-dentate or sometimes
almost pinnately lobed, apex rounded, sometimes acute ; mid-
rib stout, pale, rounded above ; primary veins conspicuous.
They come out of the bud convolute, pale bronze green, hairy
above, coated below with silvery tomentum ; when full grown
are thick, bright yellow green above, pale green, downy, often sil-
very white, below. In autumn they turn dull yellow bronze.
Petioles short, stout, grooved and flattened. Stipules linear, brown,
caducous.

Flowers. — May, when leaves are half grown. Staminate flowers
are borne in hairy aments three to four inches long ; calyx yel-
lowish-green, hairy, five to nine-lobed ; lobes narrow, acute, short-
er than the stamens ; filaments slender, anthers yellow. Pistillate
flowers are borne on tomentose or long peduncles, in few-flowered
spikes ; involucral scales covered with thick rusty tomentum ; stig-
mas bright red.

Acorns. — Annual, on long peduncles, often in pairs. Nut pale
chestnut brown, oval, broad at base, pubescent at apex, an inch

to an inch and a half long ; cup, cup-
shaped, light brown and downy with-
in, chestnut brown without, roughened
toward the base by the thickened tips
of the acute scales, higher on the cup
these are small, crowded, often free,
and sometimes form a fringe about the
rim. Kernel, white, sweet.

Unlike - the White Oak whose
leaves unfold a beautiful red, those
of the Swamp White come out a
bronze green ; their autumnal tint

Swamp White Oak, Quercus

piatanotdes. Acorns i' to is a dull yellow without a gleam of
'^/ions- red ; this quickly changes to a pale

yellow brown.

The famous Wadsworth oak, so named from the estate on
which it grew, was a Swamp White Oak. It stood for many

348

RED OAK

years on the bank of the Genesee River about a mile from the
village of Geneseo, New York. Its circumference of twenty-
seven feet has kept its memory green although the tree has
long since been destroyed by the washing away of the river-
bank.

RED OAK

Qu^rcus rubra.

Usually seventy to eighty feet high, maximum height one hundred
and forty, with stout branches growing at right angles to the stem ;
forming a narrow round-topped head ; grows rapidly ; is tolerant
of many soils and varied situations, but prefers the glacial drift
and well-drained borders of streams. Ranges from Maine to
Georgia and Tennessee, westward to Minnesota and Kansas.

Bark.— Dark gray brown tinged with red, with broad, thin, rounded
ridges, scaly. On young trees and large stems, smooth and light
gray. Rich in tannic acid. Branchlets slender, at first bright
green, shining, then dark red, finally dark brown.

Wood. — Pale reddish brown, sapwood darker ; heavy, hard,
strong, coars.e-grained. Checks in drying, but when carefully treated
may be successfully used for furniture. Also used in construction
and for interior finish of houses. Sp. gr., 0.6621 ; weight of cu. ft,
41.25 Ibs.

Winter Buds. — Light chestnut brown, ovate, acute, one-fourth of
an inch long.

Leaves. — Alternate, seven to nine-lobed, oblong-ovate to oblong,
five to nine inches long, four to six inches broad ; lobes tapering
gradually from broad bases, acute, and usually repandly-den-
tate and terminating with long bristle-pointed teeth ; the second
pair of lobes from apex are largest ; midrib and primary veins
conspicuous. They come out of the bud convolute, pink, cov-
ered with soft silky down above, coated with thick white tomen-
tum below. When full grown are dark green and smooth,
sometimes shining above, yellow green, smooth or hairy on the
axils of the veins below. In autumn they turn a rich red, some-
times brown. Petioles stout, one to two inches long, often red ;
stipules caducous.

Flowers. — May, when leaves are half grown. Staminate aments
four to five inches long, hairy. Calyx four to five-lobed, greenish ;
stamens four to five ; filaments slender ; anthers yellow. Pistillate
flowers borne on short peduncles ; involucral scales broadly ovate,
dark reddish-brown ; stigmas elongated, bright green.

349

OAK FAMILY

Red Oak, Quercus rubra.

Leaves of broad type, 7' to of long.

RED OAK

Red Oak, Quercus rubra.
Leaves of narrow type, 5' to 7' loi

OAK FAMILY

Acorns. — Ripen in the autumn of the second year ; solitary or in
pairs, sessile or stalked ; nut oblong-ovoid with broad base, full,
sometimes narrowed at apex, three-fourths to one and one-fourth
of an inch long ; cup, saucer-shaped, usually covers only the base,
sometimes one-fourth of the nut, thick, shallow, reddish brown,
somewhat downy within, covered with thin imbricated reddish
brown scales. Kernel white and very bitter.

What gnarled stretch, what depth of shade is his !
There needs no crown to mark the forest's king.
How in his leaves outshines full summer's bliss !
Sun, storm, rain, dew, to him their tribute bring.

How towers he, too, amid the billowed snows,
An unquelled exile from the summer's throne,
Whose plain, uncinctured front more kingly shows,
Now that the obscuring courtier leaves are flown.

—JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL.

What delicate fans are the great Red Oak leaves now just developed, so thin
and of so tender a green ! They hang loosely flaccidly down at the mercy of the
wind, like a new-born butterfly or dragon fly. A strong cold wind would blacken
and tear them. They have not yet been hardened by exposure, these raw and
tender lungs of the tree. —HENRY D. THOREAU.

The Red Oak finds its finest development in the states
lying north of the Ohio river ; on the southern shore of Lake
Erie it becomes a beautiful tree with a massive trunk, a mag-
nificent rounded head and smooth clean-cut limbs which
strike out from the trunk at large angles. The bark is
smooth ; even in old age the trunk never becomes extremely
rough and the limbs are always smooth. In color it is a
brownish gray until the tree is old, when it becomes dark
brown.

The leaves vary from oblong to obovate and are of two
typical forms. The full leaf with the shallow sinuses is
the youthful form although old trees are often found bearing
it. That with the deeper sinuses is perhaps the more common
form. Often the petiole and midvein are a rich red color in
midsummer and early autumn, though this is not true of all
red oaks. The leaves come out of the bud a lovely pink
and white, in midsummer they become a deep shining green
and in autumn they turn a rich, dark, purplish red. The en-

352

RED OAK

Trunk of Red Oak, Qiierais tubra.

OAK FAMILY

tire subject of spring and autumn tints is becoming more and
more interesting as it is more carefully studied. It is now
well understood that the frost is not a factor in the problem
and that both spring and autumn tints arise from changes in
the character of the chlorophyll ; the one when the chloro-
phyll is not yet mature and the other
when it is dying.

The acorns are characteristic, and
need never be mistaken. They are the
largest borne by any oak of the Biennial
group, and sit in flat shallow cups with
prominent rims and close scales. The
kernel is white and extremely bitter.

Red Oak, Quercus rubra. J

Acorns %' to i^' long. Wildwood creatures care little for them
and they remain under the trees all win-
ter unless eaten by swine. The Red Oak ranges farther
north than any other "of the Biennials ; it has been found
on the banks of the Saskatchewan. Climatic conditions so
affect it that there it ceases to be a tree, nor is it even a
shrub, but it transforms itself by stress of circumstances
into burls and knobs, and low knotted heads only a foot or
two high.

SCARLET OAK

Qu/rcus coccinea.

Usually seventy or eighty feet high, maximum height one hun-
dred and sixty, with slender trunk, rather small branches, open
narrow head. Prefers a dry, sandy soil. Ranges 'from Maine
through central New York to southern ..Ontario, west through
Michigan and Minnesota to Nebraska, south on the Alleghanies to
North Carolina and Tennessee.

Bark. — Dark brown, with shallow fissures, scaly. Young stems
and branches smooth and light brown. Inner side of bark reddish
or gray. Branchlets at first scurfy, later pale green and shining,
finally reddish, at last light brown.

354

SCARLET OAK

Scarlet Oak, Qnercus coccinea.

Leaves 3' to (/ long, 1.%' to 5' broad.

OAK FAMILY

Wood. — Light reddish brown, sapwood darker ; heavy, hard,
coarse-grained, strong. Sp. gr. , 0.7095 ; weight of cu. ft , 42.20 Ibs.

Winter Buds. — Dark reddish brown, hairy, acute, one-eighth to
one-fourth of an inch long.

Leaves. — Alternate, three to six inches long, two and one-half to
five broad, oblong or obovate or oval in outline, truncate or wedge-
shaped at base, deeply divided by wide sinuses into seven or nine
lobes, which are repandly dentate, terminating with bristle-pointed
teeth. Terminal lobe is three-toothed, the middle division being
much longer than the other furnished with two small teeth near its
apex. Lateral lobes are obovate, oblique or spreading or falcate,
the middle ones usually the largest of all ; midrib and primary
veins conspicuous. They come out of the bud convolute, bright
red, coated beneath with silvery white tomentum, finally become
green though still silvery ; when full grown are bright green,
smooth and very shining above, paler and less shining beneath.
In autumn they turn a brilliant scarlet color. Petioles slender,
terete, one and one-half to two inches long. Stipules caducous.

Flowers. — May, when leaves are half grown. Staminate aments
slender, three to four inches long. Calyx is hairy, red in bud, four
to five lobed. Stamens usually four ; filaments slender ; anthers
yellow. Pistillate flowers borne on downy peduncles ; involucral
scales ovate, downy ; stigmas bright red.

Acorns. — Ripen in the autumn of second year. Sessile or stalked,
solitary or in pairs. Nut oval, or oblong-ovate or hemispherical,
truncate or rounded at base, rounded at apex, one-half to one inch
long, light reddish brown, occasionally striate ; cup cup-shaped or
turbinate, incloses one-third to one-half of nut, light reddish brown
on inner surface, covered with closely imbricated, light reddish brown
scales. Kernel whitish.

Stand under this tree and see how finely its leaves are cut against the sky, as
it were only a few sharp points extending from a midrib. They look like double,
treble or quadruple crosses. They are far more ethereal than the less deeply
scaVloped oak leaves. They have so little leafy terra-firma that they appear
melting away in the light and scarcely obstruct our view. The leaves of very
young plants are like those of full-grown oaks of other species, more entire,
simple, and lumpish in their outlines, but these raised high on old trees have
solved the leafy problem. Lifted higher and higher and sublimated more and
more, putting off some earthiness and cultivating more intimacy with the light
each year, they have at length the least possible amount of earthy matter, and
the greatest spread and grasp of sky influences. There they dance arm in arm
with the light, — tripping it on fantastic points, fit partners in those aerial halls.
So intimately mingled are they with it, that what with their slenderness and
their glossy surfaces, you can hardly tell at last what in the dance is leaf and
what is light.

I am again struck with their beauty, when, a month later, they thickly strew
the ground in the woods piled one upon another under my feet. They are
then brown above, but purple beneath, with their narrow lobes and their bold

356

BLACK OAK

deep scallops reaching almost to the midrib. They suggest that material must
be cheap or else there has been lavish expense in their creation, if so much has
been cut out.

— HENRY D. THOREAU.

A Scarlet Oak growing in the open forms a round dome-
like head whose lower branches frequently sweep the ground.
Its leaves are a bright shining green, borne on slender peti-
oles so that they respond to every zeph-
yr's breath. Their spring-time tint is
bright pink and silvery white, but by the
time the flowers come the leaves are
pale green, growing darker as they grow
older, but never even in midsummer do
they become dark green. The especial
Scarlet Oak, Quercus glory of the species lies in the brilliant
coccima.^ Acorns color which the leaves assume late in
autumn. The autumnal tints of other
oaks are beautiful, but they pale their fires before the ruddy
gleam of the Scarlet.

The acorns greatly resemble those of the Black Oak, but
the kernel is white instead of yellow. This difference is
characteristic and persistent and may often decide the ques-
tion of species for a doubtful tree.

BLACK OAK. YELLOW OAK

Quercus velutlna. Quercus tinctbria.

A tree ordinarily seventy to eighty feet high ; in the lower Ohio
valley reaching one hundred and fifty feet with slender branches and
narrow open head. Prefers the glacial drift, but is found on the
mountain side ; ranges farther south than any other of the Red Oak
group.

Bark. — Dark brown or black on old trees, deeply furrowed, scaly;
on young trees, stems and branches, smooth. Inner bark is deep
orange yellow, heavily charged with tannic acid and largely used in
tanning. Branchlets stout, covered with rusty tomentum at first,
later they become reddish brown, finally dark brown.

357

OAK FAMILY

Wood. — Bright brown tinged with red, sapwood paler ; heavy,
hard, strong, coarse-grained, checks in drying. Sp. gr., 0.7045 ;
weight of cu. ft., 43.90 Ibs.

Winter Buds. — Brown, ovate, angled, obtuse, covered with to-
mentum, one-fourth to one-half inch long.

Leaves. — Alternate, five to six inches long, three to four inches
wide, ovate or obovate, usually seven-lobed and sometimes divided
nearly to the middle by wide, rounded sinuses into narrow, obovate,
dentate lobes with stout bristle-pointed teeth ; or sometimes the
lobes are nearly entire, tapering gradually from a broad base,
each tipped with a bristle ; or the sinuses are shallow, the heavy
part of the leaf toward the apex, the lobes broad-dentate or sinu-
ate-dentate, but always tipped with a bristle. The terminal lobe is
oblong, elongated, acute, with large or small teeth ; or, it is broad
and coarsely repandly-dentate. They come out of the bud convolute,
bright crimson, covered with white hairs above, and coated below
with silvery-white tomentum. The lobes are tipped with long white
hairs. When full grown the leaves are thick, leathery, dark shining
green above and yellow green, brownish, or tawny, more or less
pubescent below ; midribs stout, primary veins conspicuous. In
autumn they turn brown, or dull red, or yellow and brown and fall
late, sometimes remaining until spring. Petioles long, yellow, gen-
erally flattened on upper side. Stipules linear, hairy, caducous.

Floivers. — May, when leaves are half grown. Starninate flowers
borne in the axils of brown, hairy, fugacious bracts, in hairy or to-
mentose aments four to six inches long. Calyx of staminate flower,
hairy, reddish ; lobes ovate, shorter than the four stamens ; anthers
acute, yellow. Pistillate flowers borne on short tomentose peduncles,
reddish ; involucral scales ovate, shorter than the acute, hairy calyx-
lobes ; stigmas reflexed, bright red.

Acorns. — Ripen in autumn of second year, sessile, or stalked, soli-
tary or in pairs ; nut ovate-oblong, obovate, oval, or hemispherical,
broad and rounded at base, rounded at apex, light reddish brown
often striate, frequently pubescent, from one-half to one inch long ;
cup cup-shaped or turbinate, embraces one-third to one-half the
nut, covered with chestnut brown scales which at base are closely
appressed but above are looser, and at the rim form a fringe-like
border. Kernel yellow and bitter.

The name Black Oak refers evidently to the color of the
bark of the trunk which is almost or quite black. The inner
bark is deep yellow and this characteristic is persistent and
unchanging. Before the era of modern dyes this inner bark
was highly prized because of a yellow dye which was obtained
from it called quercitron.

The tree is protean in the form of its leaves. Besides its

358

BLACK OAK

Black Oak, Quercus velutina.
Leaves 4' to 6' long.

OAK FAMILY

own well distinguished types it varies toward the red oaks
on the one side and the scarlet oaks on the other. But what-
ever the individual leaf the foliage mass is always beautiful.
In early spring the unfolding leaves are red, the freshest of
them nearly scarlet. The long, white, silky hairs are dense
on the upper velvety surface and the under, surface is white
with tomentum. As the red fades out and before the green
darkens there is a time when the tree mass takes on a silvery
greenish white through which the sunlight plays with magical
effect. The deeply divided leaves are borne on rather long
petioles which are bent down at first but soon spread out
from the branches. The new shoots are yellowish green,
sometimes stained dark red but covered with rusty down.
The divided leaves give the foliage a feathery appearance and
the long yellow aments respond to the slightest impulse, so
that a light wind transforms the tree into a misty, shimmer-
ing mass. The exquisite effects of spring-time coloring must
be caught at the supreme moment, they do not remain un-
changed for a day, scarcely for an hour.

The mature leaf is dark green, in texture always thick, firm
and almost leathery. The surface is always shining, some-
times showing a " wet gloss." The petioles are usually long
and somewhat slender so that these shining leaves move
freely, apart from the motion of the branch, and toss the sun-
light from a thousand glittering points as they wave in the
summer breeze. In autumn their tint is usually brownish
yellow, rarely running into dark red, but even then the brown
leaves shine as in midsummer and dance in the November
sunlight as if it were May.

These leaves often remain upon the tree all winter long,
successfully resisting the rough buffeting of storm and wind
and falling only when pushed off by the growing buds of
spring. I once knew a pair of robins who selected an oak
bough thickly -covered with these winter leaves for their
nesting place. The nest was built, the eggs were laid, and
all went well in the sheltered nook. But, by the time the
mother bird was silting, the bursting Irids pushed off the

360

BLACK OAK

Black Oak, Quercus velutina.

Leaves of obovate type, 5' to 7' long.

OAK FAMILY

dry brown leaves and day after day the poor bird sat in her
nest at the end of a leafless bough, in full sight of every jay
and crow in the neighborhood. In fact, they gathered about
and assured her of their deep interest in her enterprise.

The robins stood out bravely for
awhile but one day we found the
nest deserted and the eggs gone.

The acorn is much smaller than
that of the Red Oak and varies
in shape. In color it is reddish
brown which is often striped with
a darker brown. It sits in a deep
cup which embraces nearly one-
half the nut. The kernel is yellow
and very bitter.

The Black Oak hybridizes, sports,
and generally conducts itself so as to make it the despair of
the amateur who wishes to know his trees " on sight." For
unless tried by careful tests there are many trees which
will deceive the most elect botanist.

Black Oak, Qitercus velutina.
Acorns y2' to i' long.

SPANISH OAK

Qutrcus digithta.

A tree usually seventy to eighty feet high, with spreading branches
which form a round topped open head. Rare in the north Atlantic
states, abundant in the south. Tolerant of many soils, it flourishes
in dry sandy barrens and on wet low lands.

Bark. — Dark brown with shallow fissures, scaly, rich in tannic
acid. Branchlets stout, covered with rusty tomentum at first, be-
coming later reddish brown or ashy gray.

Wood. — Light reddish brown, sapwood much lighter ; strong,
coarse-grained, checks badly in drying. Has high fuel value, some-
times used in construction. Sp. gr., 0.6928 ; weight of cu. ft., 43.1?
Ibs.

Winter Buds. — Chestnut brown, ovoid, acute, one-eighth of an
inch long.

362

SPANISH OAK

Spanish Oak, Quercus digitata.

Leaves 6' to 7' long, 4" to 5' broad.

OAK FAMILY

Leaves. — Alternate, six to seven
inches long, four to five inches
wide. Of two forms ; first form
oblong or obovate, usually wedge-
shaped at base, five to seven-lobed,
lobes often falcate, bristle-tipped,
sinuses broad ; second form is
obovate with a broad apex which
is three-lobed, otherwise entire.
Both forms are found on the same
branch, but sometimes character-
ize different trees. They come out
of the bud convolute, when full
grown are dark shining green
above, pale green covered with
rusty pubescence below ; midribs
stout, tomentose ; primary veins
prominent. In autumn they turn
a bright clear yellow or dull yellow
brown. Petioles short, flattened.
Stipules oblong, caducous.

Flowers. — May, appearing with
the leaves. Staminate flowers
borne in hairy aments three to
five inches long. Calyx four to
five-lobed, pubescent ; lobes
ovate, rounded, shorter than the
stamens. Stamens four to five
with oblong yellow anthers. Pis-
tillate flowers borne on stout pe-
duncles. Involucral scales tomen-
tose, as long as the calyx lobes ;
stigmas long, dark red.

Acorns. — Ripen in the summer
of second year. Sessile or stalked.
Nut is globular to oblong, one-
half inch long, pale orange brown; cup thin and saucer-shaped,
'sometimes deep, often em-
braces one-half the nut,
covered with reddish brown,
pubescent scales.

The Spanish Oak is
really a southern tree
although it appears in
New Jersey, southern
Illinois and Indiana. Its

leaves Vary greatly in Spanish Oak, Quercus digitata. Acorns l/2' long.

364

The Variant Leaves of Spanish Oak.
Quercus dtgitata.

PIN OAK

form but as they do not resemble those of any other oak,
the tree may be readily recognized. It is recommended as
a shade tree for cities in the south Atlantic and Gulf states.

PIN OAK. SWAMP SPANISH OAK

Quercus palustris.

Usually fifty to seventy feet high, maximum height one hundred
and twenty, with pyramidal head and somewhat pendulous branches.
Loves a moist rich soil and is found on the borders of swamps and
in river bottoms ; attains its greatest size in the valley of the Ohio.
Ranges from Massachusetts to Kentucky and westward to Arkan-
sas and Indian Territory. Roots deep and also spreading. Bark
filled with tannic acid.

Bark. — Pale, steel brown, generally smooth, sometimes scaly ;
young stems and branches smooth, pale brown, shining. Branch-
lets slender, tough, dark red at first, tomentose, later becoming
reddish brown and finally gray brown.

Wood. — Pale brown with dark colored sapwood ; heavy, hard,
strong, coarse-grained. Sometimes used in construction. Sp. gr.,
0.6938 ; weight of cu. ft., 43.24 Ibs.

Winter Buds. — Chestnut brown, ovate, acute, one-eighth of an
inch long.

Leaves. — Alternate, four to six inches long, two to four inches
wide, obovate or broadly oval in outline, base wedge-shaped, five
to seven-lobed, sinuses wide and deep, rounded at bottom ; termi-
nal lobe three-toothed toward apex, or entire lateral lobes spread-
ing or oblique or falcate, tapering and acute at apex or obovate
and broad at apex. The middle pairs are longer than the others,
dentate-lobed ; lobes and teeth ending in long slender bristles.
They come out of the bud, convolute, pale reddish green, shining
and hairy above, covered with whitish scurfy down below ; when full
grown are dark, shining green above, pale green below, bearing
tufts of pale hairs in the axils of the primary veins ; midribs stout,
rounded above, primary veins conspicuous. They turn a deep
scarlet in autumn and fall late. Petioles yellowish, one-half to two
inches long. Stipules red, one-half of an inch long, become brown
before falling.

Flowers. — May, when leaves are half grown. Staminate flowers
are borne in hairy catkins from two to three inches long ; pistillate
flowers on short tomentose peduncles. Calyx of staminate flower is
hairy, divided into four or five oblong rounded segments, cut at the
margins, shorter than the four or five stamens ; anthers oblong, yel-
low. The involucral scales of the pistillate flower are ovate,

365

OAK FAMILY

tomentose, shorter than the calyx-lobes ; stigmas bright red, re-
curved.

Acorns. — Ripen in the autumn of the second season ; sessile or
short-stalked, solitary or clustered ; nut nearly hemispherical, about
one-half an inch long, less in breadth, light brown, usually striate ;
cup thin, shallow, saucer-shaped, dark red brown and hairy within
and covered by closely appressed ovate, light reddish brown scales,
darkest along the margin. Kernel bitter.

The Pin Oak when young is a most graceful tree. The
stem rises an unbroken shaft ; the branches at the top are
short, the middle branches are long and
drooping and rather overbear the lower ones
which sometimes sweep the ground, thus form-
ing the beautiful pyramidal head character-
istic of the species. The leaves are small,
deeply lobed, borne on long petioles which
allow them to toss in the wind. These pin Oak<. fi«"™

palustns. Acorns

leaves are the especial prey of a gall-fly and #' long,
are frequently covered with small brown galls.

The acorns are small, light brown, striped. The name
Pin Oak seems to refer to the great number of tiny branches
which are intermingled with the large ones. Of this tree Mi-
chaux says, " Its secondary branches are much more slender
and numerous than is common on so large a tree and are so
intermingled as to give it at a distance the appearance of
being full of pins. This singular disposition renders it dis-
tinguishable at first sight in winter and is perhaps the cause
of its being called Pin Oak."

BEAR OAK. SCRUB OAK

Qne'rcus ilicifblia. Quercus pumila.

A shrub, with numerous intertwined and contorted branches, oc-
casionally becoming a small round-topped tree. Found in New
England and along the Alleghanies, on rocky hillsides and on sandy
plains.

Bark.—Vzxk brown, smooth, scaly. Branchlets slender, at first
dark green, tinged with red, tomentose, later red brown and finally
dark brown.

366

PIN OAK

Pin Oak, Quercus palustris.
Leaves 4' to <J long, 2' to 4' broad.

OAK FAMILY

Wood. — Light brown ; hard, strong.

Winter Buds. — Dark chestnut brown, ovate, obtuse, one-eighth
of an inch long.

Leaves. — Alternate, two to five inches long, one and one-half to
two and one-half inches wide, wedge-shaped at base, usually five-
lobed, sometimes three, sometimes seven-lobed ; every lobe bristle-
tipped ; sinuses wide and shallow ; form of lobes variable. They
come out of the bud convolute, dull red and coated with tomentum,
when half grown are pale green ; when full grown thick, dark green
and shining above, covered with pale or silvery pubescence below ;
midribs stout, yellow, primary veins conspicuous. In autumn
they turn dull red or yellow. Petioles slender, terete, downy, one
to one and one-half of an inch long. Stipules linear, caducous.

Flowers. — May, when leaves are half grown. Staminate flowers
are borne in reddish, hairy aments four to five inches long which often
remain until midsummer. Calyx is red or reddish green, hairy,
three to five rounded lobes, shorter than the stamens. Stamens
three to five ; filaments short ; anthers bright red, becoming yellow.
Bracts linear, red, hairy. Pistillate flowers borne on stout tomen-
tose peduncles. Involucral scales red, as long as the calyx lobes,
tomentose ; stigmas dark red.

Acorns. — Abundant, ripen in autumn of second year, sessile or
stalked, in pairs or solitary. Nut somewhat variable in form, ovoid,
broad, acute or rounded at apex, one-half inch long, light brown,
shining, sometimes striate ; cup cup-shaped, embracing half the nut,
thick, light reddish brown, the free tips of upper scales forming a
fringe-like border. Kernel deep yellow.

This little, straggling, shrubby oak loves rocky hillsides
and dry sandy barrens. Wherever it grows it indicates

the sterility of the soil. The
name Scrub Oak follows it every-
where, but the early settlers of
New England called it Bear Oak
as well, because the bears loved
its bitter little acorns. It pro-
duces these in great numbers ;
a fruiting branch is often very

Bear Oak, Qnercus ilidfolia. picturesque bCCaUSC of them. It

Acorns l/z' long.

rarely rises more than six or

eight feet and its stem is usually one or two inches in diam-
eter. Both leaves and acorns are variable in form.

This is one of the gregarious trees, it is never found as a

368

BEAR OAK

Bear Oak, Qiiercns ilicifolia.

Leaves 2' to 5' long, \l/2' to 2l/2' broad.

OAK FAMILY

single specimen or mingled with other trees but always in
tracts which it covers almost exclusively. Evidently it can
flourish where other species cannot.

BLACK JACK. BARREN OAK

QuJrcus marildndica. Quercus nlgra.

A small shrubby tree, with small trunk, spreading and contorted
branches. Grows on sandy barrens, and ranges from southern New
York westward to Kansas and Nebraska and southward to the Flor-
ida coast. Rare in the north, but abundant in the south where it
is often found on heavy clays. Hybridizes freely.

Bark. — Dark brown almost black, divided into rectangular plates
which are covered with small scales. Branchlets stout, at first light
red and scurfy, later reddish brown, finally dark brown.

Wood. — Dark brown, sapwood lighter ; heavy, hard, strong, used
for fuel and in manufacture of charcoal. Sp. gr., 0.7324 ; weight of
cu. ft., 45.64 Ibs.

Winter Buds. — Light reddish brown, angled, acute, hairy, one-
fourth of an inch long.

Leaves. — Alternate, five to seven inches long, broadly obovate,
rounded or cordate at the narrow base, usually three-lobed at the
broad apex. Form of lobes extremely variable, sometimes
rounded sometimes acute, each lobe bristle-tipped. They come
out of the bud pale pink, coated with tomentum, when half grown
they are still coated with the pale hairs. When full grown they
are thick and leathery, dark yellow green, shining above, and
yellow, orange or brown and scurfy below ; midrib broad, dark yel-
low, raised and rounded above, primary veins stout. In autumn
they turn brown or yellow. Petioles stout, yellow, grooved above,
one-half to three-fourths of an inch long. Stipules three-fourths of
an inch long, caducous.

Flowers. — May, when leaves are half grown. Staminate flowers
borne in hairy catkins two to four inches long. Calyx of staminate
flowers thin, scarious, tinged with red, covered with pale hairs and
divided into four to five rounded lobes. Stamens usually four ;
anthers dark red. Pistillate flowers borne on short peduncles
covered with thick rusty tomentum. Involucral scales are coated
with tomentum and about as long as the calyx lobes ; stigmas re-
flexed, short, broad, dark red.

Acorns. — Ripen in autumn of second year, solitary or in pairs,
short stalked ; nut three-fourths of an inch in length, oblong, full and
rounded at both ends, a trifle broader below than above the mid-
dle, light yellow brown, often striate. Shell thin, lined with coat

370

BLACK JACK

I >§

, ;

Black Jack, Quercus marilandica.

Leaves 3' to 8' long, 2' to 5' broad.

OAK FAMILY

of dense tawny tomentum. Cup turbinate, deep, covers one-third
to two-thirds of nut, is thick, pale brown and downy within, without
it is covered by large, reddish brown, loosely imbricated scales,
coated with tomentum. On top of cup are rows of smaller scales
which form a thick rim around the inner surface.

Black Jack is such a peculiar name for a tree that on hear-
ing it for the first time, one immediately asks for an explana-
tion. The authorities are silent on the
subject so one can develop his own
theory without fear or favor. This oak
varies from shrub to small tree. Its
very presence marks the sterility of the
soil. Its wood is worthless compared
with that of other oaks. It is the pariah
of its kind. Since very early times Jack
has, in certain ways, been used as a
word of opprobrium. A worthless fel-
low was a Jack. What more likely,
than that the first settlers of this coun-
try finding this worthless oak upon worthless land should
name it in opprobrium the Jack Oak. As the bark was dark,
almost black, it became Black Jack Oak and oak soon drop-
ping out, it became as we know it to-day — Black Jack.

The leaves of this oak are extremely variable, always obo-
vate or pear-shaped they vary from a form having no lobes
at all to one of three lobes and one of five lobes.

Black Jack, Quercus mart-
landica. Acorn %' long.

SHINGLE OAK. LAUREL OAK

Q it ere us imbric&ria.

A tree usually fifty to sixty feet high, maximum height one hun-
dred, with broad pyramidal head when young, becoming in old age
broad-topped and open. A tree of the mid-continent ; rare in the
east, abundant in the lower Ohio valley. Reaches its largest size in
southern Illinois and Indiana.

Bark. — Light brown, scaly ; on young stems light brown, smooth.
Branchlets slender, dark green and shining at first, later become
light brown, finally dark brown.

372

SHINGLE OAK

Shingle Oak, Qitercus imbricaria.

Leaves 4' to (/ long, i' to 2' broad.

OAK FAMILY

Wood. — Pale reddish brown, sap wood lighter ; heavy, hard,
coarse-grained, checks badly in drying ; used for shingles and
sometimes in construction. Sp. gr., 0.7529; weight of cu. ft.,
46.92 Ibs.

Winter Buds. — Light brown, ovate, acute, one-eighth inch long.
Leaves. — Alternate, oblong or obovate, four to six inches long,
one to two inches wide, wedge-shaped or rounded at base, acute or
rounded at apex, sometimes entire or with undulated margins, some-
times more or less three-lobed. They come out of the bud involute,
bright red, covered with rusty down above and white tomentum be-
low. When full grown are dark green, smooth
and shining above, pale green or pale brown,
downy below ; midribs stout yellow, grooved
above, primary veins slender. In autumn they
become dark red above, pale beneath, midribs
darken, then the leaf. Petioles stout, hairy,
flattened, grooved. Stipules about one-half
inch long, caducous.

Flowers. — May, when leaves are half grown.
Staminate flowers borne on tomentose aments
two to three inches long. Bracts linear-lanceo-
late. Calyx pale yellow, downy, four-lobed ;
stamens four to five ; anthers yellow. Pistillate

Shingle Oak, Quercus ^°^S b°™Q °n slendfr tOmentOSC peduncles.

imbricana. Acorns Involucral scales are downy, about as long as
y2, to ^ the calyx lobes ; stigmas short, reflexed, green-

ish-yellow.

Acorns. — Ripen in autumn of second year ; stalked, solitary or in
pairs ; nut almost spherical, one-half to two-thirds inch long ; cup
embraces one-half to one-third nut, is cup-shaped covered with light
red brown, downy scales, rounded or acute at apex. Kernel very
bitter.

The Shingle Oak has a smooth bark and for three-fourths of its height is laden
with branches. It has an uncouth form when bare in winter, but is beautiful in
summer when clad in its thick tufted foliage. The leaves are long, lanceolate,
entire, and of a shining green. — MICHAUX.

The leaves of Laurel Oak or Shingle Oak are very narrow, almost linear at
first with their edges so straightly revolute that they almost touch each other.
They are slightly hairy, the ground color yellowish green with a purple tinge.
The fresh twigs are flushed with red on the upper side where most exposed to
the light. The young leaves stand out stiffly from the ends of the branchlets,
studding them with sharply outlined stellate clusters. Being so narrow the
foliage is very open a-nd one can see through the tree top in almost any direc-
tion so that the tree has an appearance quite distinct from other oaks.

— Garden and Forest.

374

WILLOW OAK

Qudrcus phttlos.

A tree seventy to eighty feet high, ranging from southern New
York along the inland plain to Florida, is also found in the south-
western states. Hybridizes easily.

Bark. — Pale reddish brown, stem of young tree smooth, that of
old trees covered with shallow fissures and scaly. Branchlets
slender, smooth, reddish brown, later dark brown or grayish brown.

Wood. — Pale reddish brown, sapwood paler ; heavy, strong,
coarse-grained. Occasionally used in construction. Sp. gr., 0.7472 ;
weight of cu. ft., 46.56 Ibs.

Winter Buds. — Brown, ovate, acute, one-eighth of an inch long.
Leaves. — Alternate, linear, oblong, narrowed at both ends, some-
times falcate, two to five inches long, one-half to one inch wide,
wedge-shaped at base, entire or slightly undulate at margin, sharply
acute at apex. They come out of the bud involute, pale yellow
green, shining above, coated with pale down beneath ; when full
grown are light green, smooth and shining above, paler green below ;
midribs yellow, rounded above, primary veins obscure. In autumn
they turn pale yellow and fall late. Petioles stout, and grooved.
Stipules caducous.

Flowers. — May, when leaves are small. Staminate flowers borne
in hairy slender aments two to three inches long.
Calyx yellow, hairy, divided into four to five acute
lobes. Stamens four to five ; anthers oblong, yel-
low. Pistillate flowers are borne on short, smooth
peduncles. Involucral scales are brown, hairy, as
long as the calyx lobes ; stigmas bright red, re-
flexed.

Willow Oak, Quercus Acorns. — Not abundant. Ripen in autumn of

pheiios. Acorns second year, short stalked, solitary or in pairs.

y2r in diameter. Nut half-sphere, half an inch in diameter, pale

yellow brown, downy, sometimes striate ; cup

saucer-shaped, covers the base of nut only ; scales dark reddish

brown, thin, ovate, hairy. Kernel orange yellow and very bitter.

The Willow Oak is a most interesting tree. In the first
place its leaf is an anomaly among northern oaks for it has
the shape, poise, and general appearance of that of the wil-
low. Then, too, the shoots are straight and slender, so in its
spray it resembles the willow. Like its namesake it loves to
keep its feet in water, seeks the low wet borders of swamps

375

OAK FAMILY

Willow Oak, Quercus phellos.

Leaves 2' to «/ long, l/2' to i' broacj.

WILLOW OAK

and but rarely climbs even a hillside ; and yet it avoids the
sea-coast.

The Willow Oak hybridizes most freely ; all oaks do more
or less, but this species seems especially inclined to stray
out of bounds.

The acorns are tiny, not abundant, the kernel yellow and
exceedingly bitter. The tree is recommended as a shade
tree for southern cities.

FAGACE^E— BEECH FAMILY

BEECH

Fclgus atropunuea. Fagus ferruginea.

Fagus from phago, to eat, because the nuts were used as food in
the early ages.

Widely distributed, growing on uplands and mountain slopes, also
on alluvial bottom lands and borders of streams. Usually seventy
to eighty feet high. In the crowded forest, tall,
slender, with narrow head ; in open situations,
short stemmed, forming a round-topped head of
slender, slightly drooping branches beset with
short lateral branchlets. But one species is
native to North America. Grows well on lime-
stone.

Bark. — Compact, smooth, ashy gray. Branch-
lets at first pale green, then olive green, finally
changing through brown to ashy gray.

Wood. — Light red, varying in color in differ-
ent localities ; hard, strong, tough, very close
straight-grained and susceptible of a fine polish.
Used in manufacture of chairs, agricultural
implements and handles of tools. Sp. gr.,
0.6883 5 weight of cu. ft., 42.89 Ibs.

Leaf-Buds. — Cylindrical, long-pointed, light
chestnut brown, three-fourths to one inch long.

Leaves. — Alternate, oblong-ovate, rounded or
cordate at base, coarsely serrate with spreading
or incurved teeth, 'acute or acuminate. Feather-
veined. They come out of the bud plicate, pale
green and silky, when full grown become dark green above, pale
green beneath. In autumn they turn a clear golden yellow, and

378

Unfolding Leaves of the
Beech.

BEECH

bruiting Spray of the Beech, Fagus atropunicea.

Leaves 3' to 4' long.

BEECH FAMILY

A Staminate and a Pistillate
Flower of the Beech ; en-
larged.

becoming brown on young trees often cling to the branches all win-
ter. When the leaves first appear in the spring they are heavily
charged with acid juice. Petioles short,
slightly grooved, hairy. Stipules caducous.
Flowers. — April, when leaves are one-
third grown. Staminate borne in globose
heads an inch in diameter on slender hairy
peduncles, the Staminate flowers are yel-
lowish green and consist of a bell-shaped
four to seven-lobed calyx, corolla wanting,
stamens eight to ten, inserted on the calyx ;
filaments white, slender, exserted ; anthers
green, oblong, introrse, two-celled ; cells
opening longitudinally; ovary wanting.
Pistillate flowers are borne in two-flowered clusters from the axils
of the upper leaves surrounded by numerous awl-shaped bractlets.
They consist of an urn-shaped calyx, tube three-angled, adnate to
ovary ; limb four to five-lobed, corolla wanting, stamens wanting ;
ovary inferior, three-celled, styles
three, slender, exserted ; ovules
two in each cell. The inner bracts
in time become the fruiting invol-
ucre. When full grown this is
dark green covered with prickles ;
in autumn it becomes light brown,
the prickles strongly recurved ;
it is opened by the first severe
frosts and remains on the branch
after the nuts have fallen.

Fruit.— Nut, triangular, pale r m^^jr\\w\i\\ - \ V.M

chestnut brown, three-fourths of Mtf^ft V vllVx\ 0

an inch long. Seed is sweet. It /%^ \ WHY A > V
is believed that a beech must be
fully forty years old before it
fruits.

We sometimes think that
the birds are the first heralds
of the spring, but it is not so.
Vegetation sleeps like a dog,
with one eye open, and no
sooner has the sun turned
from his southern course than S
nature in all her myriad buds
watches for his coming. There are signs of spring to the
wise before a blue wing has beat toward the north or a robin

380

and Pistillate Flower Clusters
of the Beech.

BEECH

A Beech Tree.

BEECH FAMILY

redbreast alighted on our lawn. Willows glow in green and
yellow long before any other indication of quickening life ap-
pears, the last year's wood of the Lombardy Poplars becomes
tawny and shining, and the Beech tree fairly challenges the
snow on its limbs by the frosty white of its smaller branches
and twigs.

It is surprising since our trees are leafless one-half of the
year, that so little attention is paid to planting for winter
beauty. A great success is awaiting the artist who can
achieve this planting, and in the mean time a small but ever
increasing number of persons are appreciating the grace and
beauty of the leafless trees. The winter beauty of the Beech
is only equalled not surpassed by that of the elm. Then the
sinewy strength of its trunk is most evident, the white of its
bark is the clearest, the structure of its noble head is most
apparent, and the fine spray of its delicate branches stands
clear cut in exquisite tracery against the sky.

It is no less charming in early spring, when the half-opened
leaves clinging to the branches make a shimmering mist of
soft green and pearly white. In midsummer, because of the
lateral arrangement of the branches, the foliage lies in great
shelving masses and as the leaves are short petioled they
have little independent motion but sway with the branch.
In autumn, the head becomes a glowing sphere of golden yel-
low touched with russet, and as the last leaf flutters to the
ground it marks the close of a cycle of unequalled beauty.

Lumbermen have always insisted upon two species of
Beech, the Red and the White, distinguished by the color of
their wood. There are no botanical characters by which such
trees can be distinguished, and the reason for the difference
is unknown.

The Beech is gregarious and often forms pure forests of
considerable extent. In the first place, it is a tree that suck-
ers ; in the second, it makes a shade so dense that it is diffi-
cult for the young of other trees to flourish near. Further-
more, it readily adapts itself to environment, flourishes on the
bottom lands and climbs the mountain slopes.

382

BEECH

The genus has several evergreen species. These are all
found in the southern hemisphere, — in Terra-del-Fuego, New
Zealand, and Australia. Traces of Fagus have been dis-
covered in the cretaceous rocks of the Dakota group, in the
miocene of Alaska and in the gold-bearing gravels of Cali-
fornia ; existing once over a broad territory from which it has
now entirely disappeared.

There was so firm a belief among the Indians that a
beech tree was proof against lightning, that on the approach
of a thunder-storm they took refuge under its branches with
full assurance of safety. This belief seems to have been
adopted by the early settlers of this country and it is very
common to hear a farmer say, " A beech is never struck by
lightning." This popular belief has recently had scientific
verification. As a result of careful experiments it has been
found that the beech really does resist the electric current
much more vigorously than the oak, poplar or willow. The
general conclusion from a series of experiments is that trees
"poor in fat" like the oak, willow, poplar, maple, elm and
ash oppose much less resistance to the electric current than
trees " rich in fat " like the beech, chestnut, linden and
birch. Of course varying conditions modify the practical
working of these facts, but the Indians' conclusion was well
founded.

Of cultivated beeches the most popular is the well-known
Purple or Copper Beech. Individual trees of this variety
have appeared at different times in the forests of Europe. In
a natural history published in 1680, three beech trees with red
leaves were recorded as growing in a wood near Zurich.
Twenty-five years later a popular legend had grown up that
these red-leaved beeches marked a place where five brothers
had murdered each other. Most of the Purple Beeches now
cultivated are believed to be derived from a tree discovered
in the last century in a forest at Thuringia, which is supposed
to be about two hundred years old, and is still alive.

The beech tree figures in ancient literature because of its
shade ; the ancient writers from Virgil down were continually

383

BEECH FAMILY

sending their heroes, seeking rest and recreation, to recline
under wide-spreading beeches. For example :—

Beneath the shade which beechen boughs diffuse,
You, Tityrus, entertain your sylvan muse.

— VIRGIL.

I ran to meet you as a traveller

Gets from the sun under a shady beech.

— THEOCRITUS.

Under the branches of the beech we flung
Our limbs at ease and our bent bows unstrung.

— From the Spanish.

There at the foot of yonder nodding beech
That wreathes its old fantastic roots so high,
His listless length at noontide he would stretch
And pore upon the brook that bubbled by.

—GRAY.

The following curious story is told by Pliny in his Natural
History. " There was a little hill called Corne, in the terri-
tory of Tusculurn, not far from the city of Rome, that was
clad and beautified with a grove and tufts of beech trees,
which were as even and round in the head as if they had been
curiously trimmed with garden shears. This grove was, in
old times consecrated to Diana, by the common consent of
all the inhabitants of Latium who paid their devotions to that
goddess there. One of these trees was of such surpassing
beauty, that Passenius Crispus a celebrated orator who was
twice consul, and who afterwards married the Empress Agrip-
pina was so fond of it, that he not only delighted to repose
beneath its shade, but frequently poured wine on the roots,
and used often to embrace it."

The ancients also knew that beech wood absorbed very
little water and for that reason made excellent bowls.

No wars did men molest
When only beechen bowls were in request.

— VIRGIL.

In beechen goblets let their beverage shine,
Cool from the crystal spring their sober wine.

— MILTON.

384

BEECH

Trunk of the Beech, Fagus atropunicea.

BEECH FAMILY

The beech tree has evidently been the shining mark of
lovers from earliest days.

Or shall I rather the sad verse repeat
Which on the beech's bark I lately writ ?

— VIRGIL.

On the smooth beechen rind the pensive dame
Carves in a thousand forms her Tancred's name.

— TASSO.

It is perhaps scarcely necessary to say that the beech tree
of ancient literature is not the American beech but Fagus
sylvatica, the common beech of Europe. Our beech differs
from the European species in its paler bark and the lighter
green of its leaves.

CHESTNUT

Casthnea dent&ta. Casthnea v&ca.

From Castanea a town in Thessaly, or from another town of that
name in Pontus. New York Indians call the chestnut, O-heh-
yah-tah. Prickly Bur.

Occasionally one hundred feet high ; grows rapidly and lives to
great age. Very common on glacial drift of northern states, rarely
found on limestone soils. Has stout tap root and thick rootlets.
Juices are astringent. Attains its greatest size in western North
Carolina and eastern Tennessee.

Bark. — Grayish brown divided by shallow irregular fissures into
broad flat ridges. Branchlets at first light yellow green, finally
olive green and ultimately dark brown.

Wood. — Reddish brown, sapwood lighter ; light, soft, coarse-
grained, not strong, easily split and very durable in contact with the
soil ; largely used in manufacture of cheap furniture, interior of
houses, railway ties, fence posts and rails. " Sp. gr., 0.4504 ; weight
of cu. ft., 28.07 Ibs.

Winter Buds. — Dark chestnut brown, ovate, acute, one-fourth an
inch long ; all lateral.

Leaves. — Alternate, oblong-lanceolate, six to eight inches long,
acute or wedge-shaped base, coarsely serrate, -acute or acuminate.
Feather-veined ; midrib and veins prominent on the under side.
Convolute in the bud, late in unfolding ; when full grown are a dark
shining green above, a paler green beneath. In autumn they turn a

386

CHESTNUT

Chestnut, Castanea dentata.

Leaves (/ to 8f long.

BEECH FAMILY

bright clear yellow. Petioles short, stout, slightly angled. Stipules
caducous.

Flowers. — June, July. Monoecious, fragrant. Staminate catkins
six to eight inches in length, with stout, green, hairy stems covered
with flower clusters. The androgynous catkins are slender, hairy,
from two and a half to five inches in length, near their base are two
or three clusters of pistillate flowers ; above these pistillate flowers
are scattered clusters of staminate flowers ; these are smaller than
those on the staminate catkins and fall from the persistent rachis ;
which continues to rise above the short raceme of fruit. The stami-
nate flowers appear in three to seven-flowered cymes in the axils of
minute bracts which are borne on the rachis of the ament. Calyx
bell-shaped, pale straw color, six-lobed, lobes imbricate in bud,
corolla wanting. Stamens ten to twenty inserted on the torus ; fila-
ments exserted, white ; anthers pale yellow, introrse, two-celled,
cells opening longitudinally. Ovary has aborted. Pistillate flowers
appear solitary or two or three together within a short stemmed in-
volucre of closely imbricated green scales, at the base of a bract
borne on the rachis of the pistillate aments. Calyx bell-shaped, six-
lobed. Stamens rudimentary. Ovary inferior, six-celled, styles six,
white, hairy, exserted ; ovules two in each cell. The involucres or
burs grow rapidly, are full size by the middle of August, begin to
open with the first frost and shedding their nuts fall late in autumn.

Fruit. — Nuts much compressed, two or three in a bur, coated at
the apex with thick pale tomentum. The shell is lined with thick
rufous tomentum and the seed is sweet.

Defenseless in the common road she stands
Exposed to restless war of vulgar hands,
By neighboring clowns and passing rabble torn
Battered with stones by boys and left forlorn.

— COWLBY.

The amber buds of the chestnut are unfolding into long green fans, though it
will be long ere the trees decked with their drooping tassels hum like great
hives with the music of the bees.

—EDITH THOMAS.

In some places we fynd chestnutts, whose wild fruict I maie well saie equalize
the best in France, Spaine, Germany, Italy or those so commended in the Black
Sea by Constantinople, all of which I have eaten.

— HISTORIE OF TRAVAILB INTO VIRGINIA BRITANNIA.

The Chestnut stands unnoticed in the forest until mid-
summer when, all at once, after the other trees have blossomed
and some of them fruited, after the elm has scattered her
samaras, the red maple dropped her keys, when cherries are
ripe and apples half grown, the Chestnut flings out her

388

CHESTNUT

Chestnut Burs.

BEECH FAMILY

creamy tinted catkins in a wealth of bloom and proclaims
that she, too, belongs to the fruit-bearing race and though
late she is not belated. Though she blooms in midsummer,
her nuts are ripe in early autumn, and the first frosts open
the prickly burs and scatter the shining contents at the feet
of any passer-by.

Wilson Flagg speaking of the Chestnut says : " On this
continent it is a- majestic tree remarkable for the breadth
and depth of its shade. It displays many of the superficial
characters of the red oak so that in winter we cannot read-
ily distinguish them. The foliage bears some resemblance
to that of the beech but displays more variety. The leaves
are long, lengthened to a tapering point and of a bright and
nearly pure green. Though arranged alternately like those
of the beech on the recent branches, they are clustered in
stars, containing from five to seven leaves, on the fruitful
branches that grow out from the perfected wood. When the
tree is viewed from a moderate distance the whole mass
seems to consist of tufts, each containing several long, pointed
leaves, drooping divergently from a common centre."

The relation between the American Chestnut and the
Sweet Chestnut of Europe has long puzzled botanists. Lou-
don considers ours but a variety of the European ; Professor
Sargent prefers to consider it a distinct species. The dif-
ference between them in any case is slight and ours has the
sweeter nut.

Chestnut trees attain enormous size and great age. Lou-
don says that the Tortworth Chestnut tree in Gloucester-
shire, England, which is still in a healthy condition, was
remarkable for its great size in the reign of King Stephen,
1135 A.D., and is probably more than a thousand years old.
The species has the peculiarity of sending forth vigorous
shoots from a stump and these, growing in a sort of brother-
hood, finally unite into a single tree. The famous Chestnut
of a Hundred Horsemen on Mt. Etna in Sicily is believed to
have been formed in this way by a group of five. A hundred
years ago it had the circumference of two hundred feet at

3QQ

CHESTNUT

Trunk of Chestnut, Castanea dentata.

BEECH FAMILY

the surface of the ground. Two sections of the trunk have
disappeared and a road now runs through what is left.

The wood is valuable chiefly because of the tannic acid it
contains, which makes it very durable in contact with the soil.

During the tertiary period Castanea ranged to Greenland
and Alaska and traces of it are found in the miocene rocks
of Oregon and Colorado.

The Chinquapin, Castanea pumila, is a southern tree often a
shrub, which bears an abundance of small sweet chestnuts.
The leaf resembles that of C. dentata but is smaller and very
downy on the under surface. This tree is reported as hardy
in the Arnold Arboretum.

SALICACE^E— WILLOW FAMILY

WILLOW

SMix.

The Willows are a family of trees and shrubs which differ
greatly in size and habit of growth but are very much alike in
other respects. All have abundant watery juice, furrowed
scaly bark which is heavily charged with salicylic acid, soft,
pliant, tough wood, slender branches and large fibrous often
stoloniferous roots. These roots are remarkable for theif
toughness, size, and tenacity of life. Willows are often
planted on the border of streams in order that their inter-
lacing roots may protect the bank against the action of the
water. They make the first growth on the changing, shift-
ing banks of western rivers, and after the soil has been made
sufficiently stable, the poplar comes. .Frequently the roots
are much larger than the stem which grows from them. All
the buds are lateral, no absolutely terminal bud is ever
formed. These are covered by a single scale, inclosing at its
base two minute opposite buds, alternate with two, small,
scale-like, fugacious, opposite leaves.

The leaves are alternate except the first pair which fall
when about an inch long. They are simple, feather-veined,
and typically linear-lanceolate. Usually they are serrate,
rounded at base, acute or acuminate. In color they show a
great variety of greens, ranging from yellow to blue. The
petioles are short, the stipules often very conspicuous, look-
ing like tiny round leaves and sometimes remaining for half

393

WILLOW FAMILY

the summer. On some species, however, they are small, in-
conspicuous, and fugacious.

The character of the inflorescence is the same in every
species. It is dioecious, that is, the stamens and pistils are
separate and borne on different trees. This makes the fam-
ily difficult to classify, for it is necessary to study two trees
in order to determine one species, and the two trees are not
always at hand. Furthermore, the species readily hybridize,
and also quickly respond to environment, so that only an ex-
pert is competent to decide a question with regard to species
among willows.

The staminate flowers are without either calyx or corolla ;
they consist simply of stamens, in number varying from two
to ten, accompanied by a nectariferous gland and inserted on
the base of a scale which is itself borne
on the rachis of a drooping raceme
called a catkin, or ament. This scale is
oval and entire and very hairy. The
anthers are rose colored in the bud but
orange or purple after the flower opens,
they are two-celled and the cells open
w longitudinally. The filaments are thread-

like, usually pale yellow, often hairy.

The pistillate flowers are also without calyx or corolla ;
and consist of a single ovary accompanied by a small flat
gland and inserted on the base of a scale which is likewise
borne on the rachis of a catkin. This ovary is one-celled,
the style two-lobed, and the ovules numerous. The fruit is a
one-celled, two-valved, cylindrical, beaked capsule, contain-
ing many minute seeds which are furnished with long, silky,
white hairs. The catkins appear before or with the leaves.
Although catkin and ament are interchangeable words, cat-
kin seems most appropriate for the flowers of the willow be-
cause of their furry appearance when half developed.

The genus Salix is admirably fitted to go forth and in-
habit the earth, for it is tolerant of all soils and asks only
water. It creeps nearer to the North Pole than any other

394

WILLOW

Woody plant except its companion the birch. It trails upon
the ground or rises one hundred feet into the air. In North
America it follows the water-courses to the limit of the tem-
perate zone, enters the tropics, crosses the equator and appears
in the mountains of Peru and Chili. In the old world its range
is quite as extensive as in the new. It creeps or runs or stands,
looks like a weasel or is backed like a camel according to its
surroundings. The books record one hundred and sixty
species in the world and these sport and hybridize to their
own content and to the despair of botanists. Then, too, it.
comes of an ancient line. Impressions of leaves in the cre-
taceous rocks show that it is probably one of the oldest forms,
of dicotyledonous plants.

BLACK WILLOW

Sdlix nlgra.

Banks of streams and lakes ; the common native willow that be-
comes a tree. Twenty to forty feet high. Ranges from New Bruns-
wick to Florida, westward to the foot-hills of the Rocky Mountains
and south into Mexico ; also appears in California.

Bark. — Dark brown or nearly black, sometimes lighter brown,
deeply divided into broad, flat, connected ridges. Branchlets slen-
der, very brittle at the base, rather bright reddish brown.

Wood. — Light reddish brown, sapwood nearly white ; light, soft,
close-grained and weak. Sp. gr., .4456 ; weight of cu. ft., 27.77 Ibs.

Winter Buds. — Acute, small, reddish brown.

Leaves. — Alternate, lanceolate, three to six inches long, often
curved at tip, and frequently conspicuously scythe-shaped (var.y*?/-
cata), round or wedge-shaped base, serrate, and the entire leaf
above the middle gradually narrowed to a tapering tip. Feather-
veined. Involute in bud, silky when unfolding, when full grown
are a bright pale, shining green above, pale green beneath. In au-
tumn light yellow, or fall without changing. Petioles short, slender.
Stipules semi-cordate or crescent-shaped, leaf-like, persistent, or
small and deciduous.

Flowers. — March, April ; before the leaves. Catkins borne on
short leafy branches, narrowly cylindrical, one to three inches
long ; stamens vary from three to six ; ovary is ovate, smooth, apex
stigmatic. The fruiting catkins vary from an inch and a half to
three inches in length.

395

WILLOW FAMILY

Fruit. — Capsule, ovate, conical, smooth, and reddish brown. Seed
minute, surrounded by a tuft of long, white, soft hairs.

Then saffern swarms swing off from all the willers
So plump they look like yaller caterpillars.

JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL.

There is now but little black willow down left on the trees. I think I see how
this tree is propagated by its seeds. Its countless minute brown seeds, just per-
ceptible to the naked eye in the midst of their cotton are wafted with the cotton
to the water, most abundantly about a fortnight ago ; and then they drift and
form a thick white scum together with other matter, especially against some
alder or other fallen or drooping shrub where there is less current than usual.
There within two or three days a great many germinate and show their two
little roundish leaves, more or less tingeing with green the surface of the scum,
somewhat like grass-seed in a tumbler of cotton. Many of these are drifted in
amid the button bushes, willows and other shrubs, and the sedge along the river
side, and the water falling just at this time when they have put forth little fibres,
they are deposited on the mud just left bare in the shade, and thus probably a
great many of them have a chance to become perfect plants. But if they do
not get into sufficiently shallow water, and are not left on the mud just at the
right time probably they perish. The mud in many such places is now green
with them, though perhaps the seed has often blown thither directly through
the air. —HENRY D. THOREAU.

This is the native willow which oftenest attains tree-like
proportions in eastern North America. It is usually found
leaning over the water of streams and lakes, and may be
recognized by its long, narrow, yellow
green, shining leaves, which taper
gradually to a long point and give
the effect of delicate foliage. These
leaves usually curve in growth, so that
they take a sickle shape ; this pe-
culiarity is frequent though not in-
variable, but the tip is often curved,
when the body of the leaf is not.
Moreover, each leaf bears small green
stipules, crescent-shaped, finely toothed, and persistent as
long as the leaf is growing. The bark is rather rough and
blackish, although individuals are found with bark fairly
light brown.

Staminate
Flower of
Black Wil-
low, Salix
nigra.

396

BLACK WILLOW

Black Willow, Salix iitgra.
Leaves 3' to (/ Jong.

WILLOW FAMILY

SHINING WILLOW

S&lix lucida.

A bushy tree sometimes twenty feet in height, found on banks of
streams and swamps, with short trunk and erect branches which form
a round-topped symmetrical head. Ranges from Newfoundland
westward across the continent to the Rocky Mountains, southward
as far as Pennsylvania and Nebraska.

Bark. — Smooth, dark brown. Branchlets smooth at first, orange
color and shining, later dark brown.

Winter Buds. — Ovate, acute, light brown, one-fourth of an inch
long.

Leaves. — Alternate, oblong-lanceolate, three to five inches long,
narrowed or wedge-shaped, or rounded at base, finely serrate, acute
with long tapering often falcate points. Involute in bud, they come
out green, when full grown are leathery, smooth, shining, dark green
above, paler beneath, midrib conspicuously prominent beneath.
Petioles short, stout, yellow, grooved, glandular. Stipules semi-
circular, serrate, membranous and often persistent.

Flowers. — April, before the leaves. Staminate
catkins oblong-cylindrical, densely flowered, an
inch to an inch and a half long, terminal, on short
leafy branches ; stamens five. Pistillate catkins
slender, an inch and a half to two inches long,
becoming three or four inches long when the fruit
ripens, often persisting until late.

Fruit. — Capsule, cylindrical, one-third of an
inch long, shining.

PEACH WILLOW— ALMONDLEAF
WILLOW

Scllix amygdalotdes.

Sometimes sixty to seventy feet high, with
straight trunk and straight ascending branches,
usually much smaller. Follows the water-courses
and ranges across the continent ; less abundant in
New England than elsewhere. In the west it be-
comes the common willow along the banks of
streams.

• 398

Almondleaf Willow,
Salix amygdaloides.
Leaves 2' to 3' long.

SHINING WILLOW

Shining Willow, Salix lucida.

Leaves 3' to 5' long.

WILLOW FAMILY

Leaves. — Lanceolate, frequently falcate, wedge-shaped or rounded
often unequal at base, finely serrate, narrowed into long slender
points at the apex. When full grown they are light green and shin-
ing above, pale and glaucous beneath. The midrib is stout, yellow
or orange ; the petioles are slender, one-half to three-quarters of an
inch long ; the stipules reniform, serrate, frequently half an inch
broad and usually caducous.

Flowers. — The catkins are two to three inches long, the scales are
yellow, very hairy, the stamens from five to nine.

Fruit. — Capsule, globose-conical, pale reddish yellow, and about
a quarter of an inch long. '

SANDBAR WILLOW— LONG LEAF WILLOW

S&lix fluvidtilis.

This willow is usually about twenty feet in height, with a trunk
only a few inches in diameter, and short erect branches, spreading
by stoloniferous roots into broad thickets. Rarely it
becomes a tree sixty feet high ; frequently a shrub
five or six feet high.

Bark. — Smooth, dark brown, slightly tinged with
red and scaly. Branchlets are slender, smooth, light
or dark orange color or purplish red.

Leaves. — Come out of the bud involute, are linear-
lanceolate, often falcate, gradually narrowed at both
ends, finely dentate-serrate, acute or acuminate.
When they first appear they are exceedingly silky,
when mature they are thin, smooth, yellow green
above, paler green below. They vary from two to
six inches long, one-eighth to one-half an inch wide.
Midribs raised and prominent ; petioles grooved ;
stipules leafy, deciduous.

Flowers. — Aments are very silky, on the staminate
plant they are about an inch long, terminal and axil-
lary, the terminal flowers opening first. The pistil-
late aments are two to three inches long and terminal
on leafy branches. Stamens are two with free fila-
ments, ovary is very silky and crowned with deeply
lobed stigmas.

Fruit. — Capsule, light brown, one-fourth an inch
long.

Longleaf Willow,
Salix fluviatilis.
Leaves 2' to bf
long, %' to %'
broad.

The range of Sandbar Willow covers the
continent from the arctic circle to northern

400

BEBB WILLOW

Mexico. It grows on the river banks and is the first tree or
shrub in all the northern interior region to spring up on
newly formed sand-bars and banks of rivers, holding the soft
mud in place with its long rigid roots. It is the herald of
the poplars and prepares the river banks for their growth.
It is an exceedingly valuable tree throughout the entire mid-
continental region.

BEBB WILLOW

S&lix bebbicLna. Scilix rostrhta.

A bushy tree sometimes twenty feet high usually much smaller,
frequently a shrub. The bark is reddish or olive green or gray
tinged with red. Branchlets slender, reddish purple, orange brown
or reddish brown.

Leaves. — Come out of the bud conduplicate, are oblong-obovate,
wedge-shaped or rounded at base, remotely serrate or entire, acute
or acuminate. When full grown they are thick dull green and
smooth above, pale blue, or silvery white, downy below; one to
three inches long, half an inch to an inch wide. Petioles are often
reddish ; stipules leaf-like, semicordate, acute, sometimes one-half
an inch long, deciduous.

Flowers. — Catkins appear with the unfolding leaves, erect and
terminal on short leafy branches. The staminate catkins are sil-
very white before flowering and pale yellow after, about an inch
long and half an inch broad. Pistillate catkins are about an inch
long. Stamens two, filaments free. Ovary very silky, crowned with
spreading yellow stigmas.

Fruit. — Capsule, elongated, narrowed into a long slender beak,
borne on a slender stalk which is longer than the persistent scale.

The Bebb AVillow will grow in moist and in dry soil, on the
borders of streams and on dry hillsides. It is more abundant
in British America than in the United States where it ranges
southwest to Pennsylvania and westward to Minnesota. It
has appeared, heretofore, in the books as S. rostrata, but the
name has been changed to S. bebbiana, to commemorate the
labors of Mr. Michael S. Bebb who was an authority upon
the willows of this country.

401

WILLOW FAMILY

Bebb Willow, Salix bebbiana.
Leaves i' to 3' long.

GLAUCOUS WILLOW

GLAUCOUS WILLOW. PUSSY WILLOW

SMix discolor.

A small tree rarely more than twenty feet in height, more often a
shrub.

Bark. — Light greenish brown sometimes tinged with red, scaly.
Branchlets at first are stout, dark reddish purple, coated with pale
pubescence, later dull green. Buds are dark reddish purple, flat-
tened, acute, three-eighths of an inch long.

Leaves. — Come out of the bud convolute, are oblong or oblong-
ovate or lanceolate, gradually narrowed at both ends, wedge-shaped
or rounded at base, crenately-serrate, acute. When full grown are
thick and firm, smooth, bright green above, glaucous or silvery white
below, from three to five inches long, from an inch to an inch and a
half wide. Midribs are broad, yellow ; petioles slender ; stipules
leaflike, semilunate, acute, dentate, about one-fourth of an inch
long, deciduous.

Flowers. — Catkins appear in very early spring, before the leaves,
over an inch long, two-thirds of an inch thick, white and silky be-
fore the flowers open. Stamens two with long slender filaments.
Ovary is elongated, downy, long-stalked and crowned with a short
style and broad spreading stigmas.

Fruit. — Capsule, cylindrical, long pointed, pale brown and downy.

This willow is common along the banks of streams and
ranges from Nova Scotia to Manitoba and south to Dela-
ware ; west to Indiana and Illinois and northwestern Mis-
souri.

The leaves and twigs of many willows are subject to gall
growths caused by the stings of insects. The great cone-like
buds, an inch or more long and three-fourths of an inch in
diameter which are found at the tips of the branches of Salix
discolor especially, are an interesting example of these. One
often sees a Pussy Willow, growing by or fairly in the bed of
a small stream, virtually covered with these monstrous buds.
But open one of them with a sharp knife and within will be
found the sleeping larva of a gall-fly. This bud is formed of
many overlapping scales which are crowded and modified
leaves, all diverted from their normal purpose and com-
pelled to serve as the covering of an enemy.

403

WILLOW FAMILY

Glaucous Willow, Salt'x discolor.

Leaves 3' to 5' long. Showing a Gall-bud.

WHITE WILLOW

WHITE WILLOW. YELLOW WILLOW. BLUE WIL-
LOW

Salix alba var. mtellina ; var. ccerulea.

The magnificent willow tree which waves its narrow
pointed leaves above our heads in cultivated grounds is in
all probability a direct descendant, or a variety, or a hybrid,
of the White Willow of Europe which was very early intro-
duced into this country and has become very generally nat-
uralized. It is one of the few foreign trees which finds no
equal among American trees of the same genus.

Gray says that the original form of Salix alba is now rare-
ly found in this country. The common form is Salix vitel-
lina or Yellow Willow, so named because of the color of the
branchlets. A less common form, Salix ccerulea, is often seen
having green branchlets and dull, bluish green leaves.

The best characteristic of this willow is its wonderful te-
nacity of life. Push a White Willow wand ten inches into the
ground at the edge of a stream where it may always have
water and it will grow, and grow rapidly.

Loudon says that a plant of Salix alba can be made to turn
a summersault, that is, the branches of a young plant may be
buried in the soil and the roots left above ground, and that
the roots will become branches and the branches will change
into roots.

CRACK WILLOW

Salix frdgilis.

This is one of our largest willows, often making a magnifi-
cent tree. A native of Europe, it was introduced into this
country that its twigs might be used in basket-making ; it has
also been cultivated to produce charcoal for gunpowder.
Now thoroughly naturalized it is common along the banks
of streams and will flourish in any moist situation.

Ordinarily, it grows fifty or sixty feet high with a full
round head, spreading limbs and green branchlets. The

405

WILLOW FAMILY

White Willow, Salix alba, var. vitelhna.

^ Leaves 3%' to 4' long.

CRACK WILLOW

Crack Willow, Salix fragilis,

Leaves 4' to 7' long,

WILLOW FAMILY

leaves are four to seven inches long, one to one and one-half
inches wide, narrow — oblong with wedge-shaped base, long,
tapering, pointed apex, and serrate margin with thickened
teeth. The midrib is very prominent on the under side and
shows greenish white above. In color the leaves are a dark
shining green above, and smooth, whitish, and glaucous be-
neath. The twigs are very brittle at the base, and after a
high wind the ground under the tree is often strewn with
them. At these times Crack Willow seems an appropriate
name. The tree, however, is particularly beautiful in a light
wind for the leaves are so poised that they readily turn and
show the white of their under surfaces. The species may be
identified by the leaf which in addition to the characteristics
already given has two tiny excrescences at the base just at
the junction of the leaf with the petiole. The tree is worthy
of more attention than it has yet received.

Prehistoric man knew the uses of the willow. The strong,
yielding, flexible withes made natural ropes and their use as
such has come down to recent times. The modern world has
to-day no material better for baskets than the willow, and
the Romans used it precisely as we do.

From Britain's painted sons I came,
And Basket is my barbarous name ;
But now I am so modish grown
That Rome would claim me for her own.

— MARTIAL.

Herodotus is the first of ancient writers to mention the
willow and he speaks of the divining rods of the ancient
Scythians.

Exactly why this tree should be considered the emblem
of despairing love is not clear but that it has been so consid-
ered from early times is evident. Shakespeare represents
Dido lamenting the loss of ^Eneas :

In such a night

Stood Dido, with a willow in her hand.
Upon the wild sea banks, and waved her love
To come again to Carthage.

408

WEEPING WILLOW

Stilix babyl6nica.

By the waters of Babylon we sat down and wept, when we remembered thee,
O Zion ! As for our harps we hanged them up upon the willow trees that are
therein. — PSALM 137.

The native land of the Weeping Willow is Asia. On the
banks of the Euphrates, near Babylon, it is abundant. It
is also found in China, in Egypt and elsewhere in Africa.
Some authorities say it was brought into England about 1730 ;
others give the date of its introduction as 1692.

A pretty story is told of Pope in connection with this tree.
It seems that he was present when Lady Suffolk received a
package from Turkey and, observing that some of the withes
bound around it appeared alive, said taking them up, " Per-
haps these may produce something that we have not in Eng-
land." Whereupon, the story adds, he planted one of them
in his garden at Twickenham which became the Weeping
Willow, afterwards so celebrated. Years after, this willow
was cut down by the owner of the villa for the same reason
that Haskell cut down Shakespeare's mulberry tree, because
he was annoyed by persons asking to see it.

That this willow is a favorite tree in China is clear from
the prominence given it in all Chinese pictures of landscape.
The famous landscape on the old Canton plates shows Weep-
ing Willows bordering the stream and surrounding the home
of the irate father. The Chinese also plant it in their ceme-
teries. It must, likewise, at one time in this country have
been considered a tree fitted to express elegant sorrow, for
funeral prints of a tombstone, shaded by a Weeping Willow
under which a mourner stands in the abandonment of grief,
are among the venerable treasures of many a New England
household.

Perhaps, the most famous tree of the species is that grow-
ing upon the site of Napoleon's grave at St. Helena. Among
the trees that had been introduced into the island was a
Weeping Willow which attracted Napoleon's notice and under

409

WILLOW FAMILY

which he used frequently to sit. About the time of his death
a storm shattered it and after the interment of the Emperor,
Madame Bertrand planted several cuttings of the tree outside
the railing which surrounded the grave. After various vicis-
situdes one of the willows was found to be in a flourishing
condition and from this one have been obtained the cuttings
which have enabled so many to possess a plant of the true
Napoleon's Willow.

Landscape gardeners plant the Weeping Willow by streams
or waterfalls in conjunction with the Weeping Birch or in
contrast with the Lombardy Poplar. To treat it artistically
is oftentimes a problem, as it is difficult to make it harmo-
nize with other trees.

It roots freely by cuttings and grows with great rapidity
in a rich soil, near water. Its shoots are brittle and neither
they nor the wood seem ever to have served any economic
purpose.

POPLAR

P6pulus

The word Populus is derived by some from pallo, to vibrate or
shake ; others suppose that the tree obtained its name from being
used in ancient times to decorate the public places in Rome,
where it was called arbor populi, or tree of the people.

The Poplars are a group of rapid growing trees closely
allied to the willows. Their range includes both temperate
and arctic regions and in the extreme north they produce ex-
tended forests. Nine species occur in the United States of
which five are native to the eastern part of the continent,
the others are Rocky Mountain or western trees. In addi-
tion to these, three European species are naturalized here ;
the White Poplar, P. alba, the Lombardy Poplar, P. nigra var.
italica, and the Black Poplar, P. nigra.

The wood has become valuable of late for paper making.
The bark is heavily charged with tannic acid and in Europe
is used for tanning leather.

410

WEEPING WILLOW

Weeping Willow, Salix babylomca.
Leaves 3' to 5' long.

WILLOW FAMILY

The flowers are dioecious and appear in early spring before
the leaves. They are borne in long, drooping, sessile or
pedunculate aments which are produced from
buds formed in the axils of the leaves of the
previous year. The pistillate aments lengthen
very considerably before maturity. The flow-
ers are solitary, each one seated in a cup-
shaped disk which is borne on the base of a
scale which is itself attached to the rachis of
the ament. The scales are obovate, lobed and
fringed, membranous, hairy or smooth, usually
caducous. The staminate flowers are without
calyx or corolla and consist simply of a group
of stamens, four to twelve, or
twelve to sixty, inserted on a
disk ; filaments short, pale yellow;
anthers oblong, purple or red, in-
trorse, two-celled ; cells opening
longitudinally.

The pistillate flower is equally destitute of
calyx and corolla and consists of a one-celled
ovary seated in a cup-shaped disk. The style is
short, stigmas two to four, variously lobed ;
ovules numerous. The fruit is a two to four-
valved capsule, ripening before the full develop-
ment of the leaf ; greenish or reddish-brown.
The seed is light brown and surrounded by a
tuft of long, soft, white hairs.

Populus is the oldest type of dicotyledonous
plants yet identified. When Sequoias, Pines and
Cycads made up the bulk of the cretaceous forests of Green-
land, the Poplar alone of deciduous trees waved its fluttering
leaves among their dark branches.

Cottonwood, Popu-
lus deltoides. Stam-
inate Aments, 3'
to 4' long.

Cottonwood,
Populus del-
toides. Pistil-
late Aments,
3' to 4' long.

412

ASPEN

ASPEN. QUAKING ASP

Pdpulus tremuloides.
Tremuloides refers to the fluttering habit of the leaves.

Most widely distributed tree of North America. Prefers a rather
moist sandy soil and gravelly hillsides. Small, slender, rarely reach-
ing the height of fifty feet, but credited with one hundred feet in
northern Arizona at an elevation of 8,000 feet above the sea. Grows
rapidly and forms a narrow round-topped head. Roots large, vig-
orous and stoloniferous.

Bark. — On old trees near the base almost black ; higher on the
trunk and on young stems, pale greenish brown or yellow brown or
nearly white, often roughened with horizontal bands or wart-like ex-
crescences and marked below the branches with large, dark, lunate
scars. Branchlets at first red brown, and shining, turning finally to
a light gray, afterward becoming dark gray, for two or three years
much roughened by leaf-scars. The sweet inner bark in early spring
is used as food by the Indians of the north.

Wood. — Light brown, sapwood nearly white, soft, close-grained,
neither strong nor durable. Largely used in the manufacture of
paper ; and in the west for flooring and turnery. Burns freely when
green. Sp. gr., 0.4032 ; weight of cu. ft., 25.13 Ibs.

Winter Buds. — Leaf-buds slightly resinous, reddish brown, conical
acute, somewhat incurved, one-fourth of an inch long ; narrower
than the obtuse flower-buds.

Leaves. — Alternate, simple, one and a half to two inches long,
ovate or nearly round, slightly cordate or truncate at base, finely
serrate with glandular-tipped teeth, acute. Feather-veined, midrib
and primary veins conspicuous. They come out of the bud involute,
smooth, light green, shining, ciliate on
margins, when full grown are thin, dark
green, shining above, pale, dull, yellow
green beneath. In autumn they turn a
clear bright yellow. Tremulous. Pet-
ioles long, slender, and laterally com-
pressed. Stipules caducous.

Flowers. — April, borne in pendulous
aments one and a half to two and a half
inches long from buds formed the season A Staminate and a
before. The one-flowered scales are
deeply divided into three to five linear,
acute lobes fringed with long, soft, gray
hairs. Stamens from six to twelve, inserted on a disk which is
oblique, with entire margin. Ovary is conical ; style short, thick ;
stigmas two, divided into lobes. Ovary surrounded by broad
oblique disk, which is persistent.

Flower

of Aspen, Populus tremuloides ;
enlarged.

WILLOW FAMILY

Fruit. — Oblong-conical capsules, two-valved, thin-walled, light
green and nearly one-fourth an inch long, borne in drooping aments
about four inches long. Seeds obovate, light brown and surrounded
with long, soft, snowy white hairs. May and June.

Nature chooses wisely her place for Aspen tremuloides at the edge of a wood,
with darker, higher trees behind as a background.

—EDITH THOMAS.

The entire Poplar family are a restless folk and the Aspen
the most so of the group. The reason lies in a personal
peculiarity. The character of the petiole or leaf stem has
much to do with the movement of the foliage of every tree.
In the beech and elm, for example, the petiole is short and
stiff and as a consequence the leaves have little independent
motion but sway with the branch. The Poplars, on the other
hand, have long slender petioles to begin with, and these are
laterally compressed — pinched sidewise, not flattened — and
this compression being vertical to the plane of the leaf,
counteracts the ordinary waving motion which a leaf has in
the wind and causes it to quiver with the slightest breeze,
whence the proverbial comparison, " Trembling like an aspen
leaf." From Homer to Tennyson the race of poets have
noted this peculiarity of all aspens.

Some wove the web,

Or twirled the spindle, sitting, with a quick
Light motion like the aspen's glancing leaves.

— ODYSSEY.

His hand did quake
And tremble like a leaf of aspen green.

—SPENSER.

A perfect calm, that not a breath
Is heard to quiver through the closing woods,
Or rustling turn the many twinkling leaves
Of aspen tall.

— THOMSON.

Willows whiten, aspens quiver.

— TENNYSON.

The small Aspen is a very common tree, little prized and
rarely planted. Often an undergrowth in an oak wood, it is

414

ASPEN

Aspen, Populus liemuloides.
Leaves \%' to 2' long.

WILLOW FAMILY

perhaps better known when, forming a little thicket, it makes
a mass of trembling leaves on a gravelly bank by the road-
side, or skirts the border of a swamp, or forms the first
growth on dry upland which has been swept by fire. Under
favorable conditions it becomes a tree fifty feet in height
and in the mountains of Arizona will reach one hundred feet.
Small and quivering leaves necessarily make a tree look
fragile and it is doubtful if any size could take from it the
appearance of weakness which is its marked characteristic.

The trunk is slender, the head round-topped, the bark
pale green becoming whitish and blotched and marred with
age. The leaf is almost round, with a slightly heart-shaped
base, serrate margin and acute apex. It comes out of the
bud involute, pale green, shining and downy, but finally be-
comes smooth and firm in texture, dark green above and dull
yellow green beneath. The seeds ripen in May and by
means of the long white hairs which surround them are
borne by the winds to a considerable distance from the
parent tree.

It ranges from Hudson's Bay to Mexico. It grows farther
north than the spruce and the larch, and flourishes on the
mountain ranges of Chihuahua.

Professor Sargent says : " The great value of the Aspen
lies in the power of its small seeds, supported by their long
hairs and wafted far and near by the wind, to germinate
quickly in soil which fire has rendered infertile ; and in the
ability of the seedling plants to grow rapidly in exposed
situations. Preventing the washing away of the soil from
steep mountain slopes and affording shelter for the young of
longer-lived trees, it has played a chief part in determining
the composition and distribution of the subalpine forests of
western America and in recent years it has spread over vast
areas of the slopes of the Rocky Mountains from which fire
had swept the coniferous trees." Loudon considers our
American Aspen'to be but a variety of the Aspen of Europe,
Populus tremula.

There lingers in Scotland, it is said, the belief that the

416

LARGE-TOOTHED ASPEN

Large-toothed Aspen, Populus grandidentata.

Leaves 3' to 4' long.

WILLOW FAMILY

Aspen is the tree of whose wood the cross of our Saviour was
made and that it still shivers in remembrance of that fact.

Far off in highland wilds 'tis said,
But truth now laughs at fancy's lore,
That of this tree the cross was made
Which erst the Lord of Glory bore ;
And of that deed its leaves confess
E'er since a troubled consciousness.

—Spirit of the Woods.

LARGE-TOOTHED ASPEN

Populus grandidenthta.

Common in the forest, preferring rich, moist, sandy soil, near the
borders of swamps and streams. Reaches the height of sixty feet,
with a trunk two feet in diameter and slender spread-
ing branches which form a narrow round-topped
head. Ranges from Nova Scotia through Ontario to
Minnesota ; southward to Delaware, along the Alle-
ghanies to North Carolina, Kentucky and Tennessee.

Bark.—Qn old trees near the base, dark brown,
fissured and divided into broad flat ridges ; on
younger stems and on the branches smooth and light
gray tinged with green. Branchlets stout, coated
at first with pale tomentum, later they become red-
brown or dark orange, finally become dark gray,
much roughened by the leaf scars.

Wood. — Light brown, sapwood nearly white ;
light, soft, close-grained but not strong. Largely
manufactured into wood pulp, occasionally used for
wooden-ware. Sp. gr., 0.4632; weight of cu. ft.,
28.87 Ibs.

Leaf Buds.— Spread from the branch at a wide
angle, broadly ovate, acute, one-eighth of an inch
long ; about half the size of the flower-buds which
otherwise resemble them.

Leaves.— Alternate, simple, three to four inches
long two to three inches broad, broadly-ovate, three-
nerved, wedge-shaped, truncate or rounded at base,
coarsely and irregularly crenate with incurved teeth,
acute or acuminate ; midrib and veins conspicuous.
They come out of the bud involute, coated with hoary tomentum
when full grown are dark green above, pale green beneath

418

Large-Toothed
Aspen, Populus
grandidentata.
Fruiting Ament,
4' to 5' long.

SWAMP COTTONWOOD

autumn they turn a clear bright yellow. Petiole slender, laterally
compressed, one and a half to two and one-half inches long. Stip-
ules caducous.

Flowers.— April, borne in pendulous aments, one and a half to two
and a half inches long, from buds formed the season before. The
one- flowered scales are deeply divided into five or si& acute lobes,
with soft light gray hairs which also cover the disk. Stamens from
six to twelve, inserted on a shallow oblique disk with entire margin ;
filaments short, slender ; anthers light red. Ovary oblong-conical,
light green, hairy ; style short ; stigmas spreading, divided into fili-
form lobes. The ovary enclosed in the persistent disk.

Fruit. — Oblong, curved capsule, light green, thin-walled, hairy,
two-valved, one-eighth inch long, borne on a drooping ament four to
five inches long. Seed minute, dark brown, surrounded by rather
short, snowy white hairs. May.

The Large-toothed Aspen is gregarious, loves to grow in
thickets ; its leaves twinkle on the gravelly hill-side or along
the river-bottom ; it ripens its long, drooping, necklace-like
aments in May as its leaves unfold and in every particular
proves itself a poplar.

The high-sounding name, P. grandidentata, means simply
that the teeth of the leaf margin are a little larger than those
of P. tremuloides.

SWAMP COTTONWOOD. BLACK COTTONWOOD.
DOWNY POPLAR

P6pulus heterophylla.

Rare in New England, common in the south Atlantic states, abun-
dant in the lower Mississippi valley. Loves low wet land. In the
north is a tree forty feet high, with a rather round-topped head,
its maximum height is ninety feet.

Bark. — On old trees, light brown tinged with red, often broken
into long narrow plates attached only at the middle ; on young trees
divided by narrow shallow fissures into flat ridges. Branchlets con-
tain an orange-colored pith, at first are dark red brown or ashy gray,
later much darker and roughened by leaf scars.

Wood. — Dull brown, sapwood lighter brown ; light, soft and close-
grained. Is now often manufactured into lumber in the west and
south and used in interior finish of buildings. Sp. gr., 0.4089;
weight of cu. ft., 25.48 Ibs.

419

WILLOW FAMILY

Swamp Cottonwood, Populus Heterophylla. Leaves 4' to 7
long.

Leaf Buds.—
Slightly resinous,
ovate, acute, cov-
ered with bright red
brown scales, one-
fourth an inch long
and half the size of
the flower-buds.

Leaves. — Alter-
nate, four to seven
inches long, two to
three inches broad,
broadly ovate, cor-
date or truncate or
rounded with a small
sinus at base, finely
or coarsely crenate-
ly-serrate with in-
curved glandular
teeth, acute, or short
pointed or rounded

at apex ; midrib and veins conspicuous, and sometimes downy.
They come out of the bud involute, covered with thick white tomen-
tum, when full grown are dark green above pale and smooth be-
neath. In autumn they turn dull yellow or brown. Petioles terete,
slender, tomentose or smooth, two and one-
half inches long; stipules caducous.

Flowers. — March, April. Staminate am-
ents are broad, densely flowered, erect at
first but finally pendulous, two to two and
one-half inches long with stout, brittle, hairy
stems. Their scales are narrowly oblong-
ovate, brown, divided into many narrow
light red brown lobes and falling as the am-
ents lengthen. Stamens, twelve to twenty,
with slender filaments and large dark red
anthers, are inserted on an oblique, slightly
concave disk, with spreading border. Pis-
tillate aments few-flowered, one to two
inches long ; ovary ovoid, terete or three-
angled ; style short, stout with two or three
dilated, two or three-lobed stigmas.

Fruit. — In maturing the fruiting aments
become four to six inches long, pedicels
half an inch long ; capsules ripen in May,
are ovate, acute, red brown, two to three-
valved, one-half ah inch long ; seed small,
dark brown, surrounded by many short,
silvery white hairs which are often tinged
with orange.

420

Part of the Fruiting Ament
of Swamp Cottonwood,
Populus heterophylla.

BALSAM

Balsam, Populus balsatnifera.
Leaves 3' to 5' long, \y2' to 3' broad.

WILLOW FAMILY

Though heart of oak be e'er so stout
Keep me dry, and I'll see him out.

— Old inscription on a poplar plank.

The wood of this tree under the name of Black Poplar is
much used in the west in the interior finish of buildings.

This is the one poplar whose petioles are not laterally com-
pressed— therefore the leaves do not flutter as do those of
other species. It is called the Downy Poplar because the
leaves retain the down on their veins more abundantly than
other poplars.

BALSAM. TACMAHAC. BALM OF GILEAD

Pdpulus bah ami f era.

In New England and middle States about sixty feet high, but in
the Valley of the Mackenzie River in Canada it reaches one hun-
dred feet, with a trunk six or seven feet in diameter. Prefers the
bottom-lands of rivers and borders of swamps.

Bark. — On old trees dark brownish gray, divided into broad
rounded ridges covered with small closely appressed scales. On
younger stems and branches light brown tinged with green, and
smoothed or roughened by dark excrescences. Branchlets stout,
dark red brown, shining or downy at first, later they become dark
orange, finally gray tinged with yellow green.

Wood. — Light brown, sapwood nearly white ; light, soft close-
grained, not strong. Used extensively in the manufacture of paper.
Sp. gr., 0.3635 ; weight of cu. ft., 22.65 Ibs.

Winter Buds. — Leaf-buds ovate, long pointed, brownish yellow,
the terminal bud nearly an inch long. The axillary three-quarters
of an inch long. Saturated with a yellow balsamic sticky exudation,
shining, beginning to open soon after midwinter, they are covered
with five oblong, closely imbricated, thick scales. Flower-buds sim-
ilar to terminal leaf-buds.

Leaves. — Alternate, three to five inches long, one and one-half to
three inches wide, ovate-lanceolate, rounded or cordate at base,
crenate-serrate with slightly thickened margins, acute or acuminate ;
midrib and primary veins conspicuous. They come out of the bud
involute, light yellow green coated with the gummy secretions of
the bud and slightly hairy, when full grown are deep dark green,
shining above, pale green often ferruginous below. In autumn
they turn a bright yellow. Petioles long, slender, compressed later-

422

BALM OF GILEAD

Balm of Gilead, Populus balsamifera candicans.
Leaves 4' to ^ long.

WILLOW FAMILY

ally, enlarged at the base. Stipules vary in shape and remain until
the leaf is half grown.

Flowers. — March, April, before the leaves. Pistillate aments are
two and one-half to four inches long, one-third of an inch thick ;
scales are broadly ovate, light brown, scarious, often
irregularly three-lobed or parted at the apex which
is fringed with short thread-like lobes. Stamens
twenty to thirty, with short filaments and large light
red anthers, inserted on an oblique, slightly concave,
short-stalked disk. Ovary ovate, slightly two-lobed,
sessile in a deep cup-shaped disk. Stigmas two, ses-
sile, dilated.

Fruit. — Fruiting aments four to six inches long ;
capsules open May or June, are ovate-oblong, often
curved, two-valved, light brown. Seeds oblong-ovate,
light brown surrounded by slender hairs which sur-
round the aments with masses of snow-white cotton
which is wafted with the seed great distances from the
tree.

A Staminate
and a Pistillate
Flower of Bal-
sam, Populus
balsamifera ;
enlarged.

The greatest part of the drift timber that we observed on
the shores of the Arctic Sea was Balsam Poplar. Its Cree
name is Matheh-metoos, which means ugly poplar.

— SIR JOHN FRANKLIN'S Report of Last Journey.

The Balsam or Tacmahac is the largest tree
of northwestern America. In the valley of the
Mackenzie and upper Yukon it attains magnifi-
cent proportions, reaching the height of one
hundred feet with a diameter of six or seven,
and forms dense forests thousands of square
miles in extent. It possesses all the poplar
characteristics ; of drooping catkins, whitish
trunk, fluttering shimmering leaves, and cot-
tony seeds.

Populus balsamifera candicans is the tree in
northeastern United States and Canada known
as the Balm of Gilead. It is more and more fre-
quently cultivated as a shade-tree, especially in
cities where bituminous coal is habitually used.
Three varieties are distinguished in cultivation.

It differs from the specific form in its more spreading
branches, in its broader heart-shaped leaves which are mortj

424

Balsam, Populus
balsamifera.
Fruiting Am-
ents 4' to (/
long.

COTTONWOOD

Trunk of Cottonwood, Populus deltoides,

WILLOW FAMILY

coarsely serrate, and in the pubescence which when young is
found on both leaves and petioles. The buds and apex of
the growing shoots are heavily laden with a fragrant gum-
my secretion.

COTTONWOOD

P6pulus deltoides. Pdpulus monilifera. P6puhis angulhta.

Deltoides, like the Greek letter delta, refers to the shape of the
leaf; monilifera refers to the necklace-like pistillate ament ;
angulata refers to the angled stem of the shoots.

Comparatively rare and of small size in the eastern states, the
Cottonwood is the largest and most abundant tree along the streams
between the Appalachian and the Rocky Mountains, reaching the
height of a hundred feet.

Bark. — On old trees ashy gray and deeply divided
into broad rounded ridges broken into scales which
cover the light yellow inner bark. On young stems
and branchlets smooth light yellow green tinged with
red. Young shoots become angular in their second
year.

Wood. — Dark brown, sapwood nearly white ; light,
soft, close-grained, not strong. Warps badly in dry-
ing ; is now used only in the manufacture of paper-
pulp, cheap packing cases and fuel. Sp. gr., 0.3889 ;
weight of cu. ft., 24.24 Ibs.

Leaf Buds. — Resinous, shining, acute, chestnut
brown, half an inch long. Flower-buds ovate, ob-
tuse, half an inch long.

Leaves. — Alternate, three to five inches in length,
deltoid or broadly ovate, truncate, slightly cordate or
wedge-shaped at base, crenately-serrate with coarse,
incurved, glandular teeth. They come from the bud
involute, gummy, fragrant with balsamic odor, pale
green or tawny, drooping, but at maturity they are
thick, bright shining green above, paler green be-
neath. In autumn they turn a clear bright yellow.
Petioles slender, two to three inches long, compressed
laterally, yellow or red. Stipules vary in size, cadu-
cous. •

Flowers. — March, April, before the leaves. Stam-
inate trees densely flowered, aments three to four
inches long, one-half inch thick. Scales are scarious,

Winter Branch
of Cotton-
wood, Popu-
lus deltoides.

426

COTTONWOOD

Cottonwood, Populus deltoides.
Leaves 3' to 5' long.

WILLOW FAMILY'

light brown, smooth, dilated and irregularly divided, caducous.
Stamens sixty or more, with short filaments and large dark red
anthers, inserted on a broad oblique disk. Pistillate tree sparsely
flowered. Ovary subglobose, surrounded at base by a cup-shaped
disk. Stigmas three to four, dilated or lobed.

Fruit. — Mature aments eight to twelve inches long. Capsule ob-
long-ovate, acute at apex, dark green, three to four-valved. Seed
oblong-ovate, rounded at apex, surrounded by a tuft of long white
or slightly rusty hairs which make up the mass of delicate cotton
that has given this tree its common name.

With its massive pale stem, its great spreading limbs and broad head of pen-
dulous branches covered with fluttering leaves of the most brilliant green, Pop-
ulus deltoides is one of the stateliest and most beautiful inhabitants of the forests
of eastern America.

—CHARLES S. SARGENT.

This is the tree that under the name of Carolina Poplar is
extensively planted in cities. It is proving itself an admir-
able shade-tree for the cities of the middle west where soft
coal is burned. Its smooth glossy leaves have just enough
natural varnish about them to keep the soot from clinging,
and so they are bright and clean and healthy when those of
the elm and the maple are soiled and choked and dying.

WHITE POPLAR. ABELE-TREE

Pdpulus alba.
The poplar that with silver lines his leaf.

— COWPER.

The green wood moved and the light poplar shook
Its silver pyramid of leaves.

— BARRY CORNWALL.

The ancients consecrated the White Poplar to time because the leaves are
in continual agitation ; and being of a blackish green on one side, with a thick
white cotton on the other they were supposed to indicate the alternation of day
and night.

— Sentiment of Flowers.

The English name of this tree is derived from the Dutch
name, Abeel ; it is believed to have come into England by way
of Holland.

428

WHITE POPLAR

White Poplar, Populus alba.

Leaves ^f to 3' long.

WILLOW FAMILY

The foliage effect of a tree is often compounded of the dif-
ferent colors shown by the two sides of its leaves, of which
the White Poplar gives a marked example ; or by new leaves
coming out and showing themselves upon the dark back-
ground of older leaves as is the case with the locusts and
the conifers. This mingling of green and white makes the
White Poplar a most effective ornamental tree, but it is
never safe to allow it a free hand, for the root is creeping
and produces suckers indefinitely, so that in a brief period
a parent tree will be surrounded by a numerous and well-
grown family that will soon convert the place into a
thicket.

The White Poplar is native of both Europe and Asia and
was brought to this country very early. In favorable situa-
tions it rises to the height of eighty or one hundred feet, with
a sturdy trunk and spreading head. The bark of the lower
part of the trunk is dark and furrowed and that of the upper
part and larger branches is greenish gray with dark markings
and blotches. The young shoots are covered with a white
down and continue to come out far into midsummer, thus in-
creasing the white appearance of the tree. The leaves are
either lobed or coarsely and sparingly toothed, very dark
green and smooth above, covered with a thick snowy down
beneath, and tremulous like all their kind. With the elm and
the early maples it responds to the first warm days of spring
and when in full bloom may be said fairly to drip catkins, so
covered is every branch with the pendulous aments, three
inches long and as large as one's finger.

According to ancient mythology the White Poplar was
consecrated to Hercules because he destroyed Cacus in a
cavern adjoining Mt. Aventinus, which was covered with
these trees ; and in the moment of his triumph he bound his
brows with a branch of White Poplar as a token of his vic-
tory. Persons offering sacrifices to Hercules were always
crowned with branches of this tree ; and all who had glori-
ously conquered their enemies in battle wore garlands of it,
in imitation of Hercules. Homer in the " Iliad " compares

43°

WHITE POPLAR

Staminate Aments of White Poplar, Populus alba.

WILLOW FAMILY

the fall of Simoisius when killed by Ajax to that of a
poplar.

So falls a poplar that on watery ground

Raised high its head with stately branches crowned.

Ovid mentions that Paris had carved the name of ^Enone
on a poplar, as Shakespeare makes Orlando carve the name
of Rosalind upon the trees of the forest of Arden.

Virgil gives directions for the culture of this tree and Hor-
ace speaks of the White Poplar as delighting to grow on the
banks of rivers.

LOMBARDY POPLAR
Pdpulus nigra itdlica.

The poplar there
Shoots up its spire, and shakes its leaves i1 the sun.

— BARRY CORNWALL.

The Lombardy Poplar was the first ornamental tree intro-
duced into the United States. A century ago it was ex-
tremely fashionable, and although it has fallen from its high
estate, nevertheless, it is by no means to be despised. Two
things it can do. It can make a narrow leafy wall sooner and
more satisfactorily than any other tree, and it can grow by the
roadside and not shade the street. It is the only deciduous
tree whose branches hug the stem and resulting from that is
its peculiar spiry shape, which is individual. When the wind
blows, unlike other trees that wave in parts, it waves in one
simple sweep from top to bottom.

The poplar shoot
Which like a feather waves from head to foot.

— LEIGH HUNT.

The native home of the Lombardy Poplar has been a sub-
ject of much discussion, but good opinion now is that it orig-
inated in Afghanistan. It is said to grow wild in a forest
near Cabul at an elevation of 7,500 feet above the level of the
sea. In early times it was cultivated in western Asia,

432

WHITE POPLAR

Pistillate Aments of White Poplar, Populus alba.

WILLOW FAMILY

whence it was introduced^ into Europe. Pliny makes no
mention of it which indicates that it was not known in Italy
in his time.

Although not long-lived it has become thoroughly domes-
ticated with us. By the middle of April the catkins are
drooping from all our native poplars and the Lombardy is
not to be left behind. The Abele or White Poplar, indeed,
hung out its plumes first of all, but now the Lombardy ap-
pears bearing hers — or rather his for they are all staminate
— on the topmost branches of the tree. So high are they
that it is difficult to get them ere they fall. They appear on
the second year's wood and come out stiff and curved and
reddish brown but, by and by, like all their kind they droop,
and casting their useless pollen to the wind they pass away.

The leaves come out from the bud a lovely yellow green,
become firm and darker as the days go by and flutter on ap-
pressed stems all summer long, turning in autumn to a rich
golden yellow.

The following quotation given by Loudon from the Gen-
tleman s Magazine shows the estimation in which the Lom-
bardy Poplar was held in his day :

The Lombardy Poplar, considered as a tall conical mass of foliage, be-
comes of great importance in scenery when contrasted with round-headed trees.
It is a known rule, in the composition of landscape that all horizontal lines should
be balanced and supported by perpendicular ones ; hence a bridge displaying
a long and conspicuous horizontal line, has its effect greatly increased by pop-
lars planted on each end of it. Lombardy Poplars may be advantageously
planted whenever there is a continuance of horizontal lines, but they should be
so arranged as to form part of those lines and to seem to grow out of them, rather
than to break or oppose them in too abrupt a manner. In the case of a stable
or other agricultural building where the principal mass extends in length rather
than in height it would be wrong to plant Lombardy Poplars or other tall fasti-
giate trees immediately before the building, but they will have a good effect
when placed at the sides or behind it.

This poplar or some equally fastigiate tree should appear in all plantations
and belts that are made with a view to picturesque effect. Masses of round-
headed trees, though they might be seen to advantage in some situations, when
grouped with other objects, yet, when contemplated by themselves are quite un-
interesting, from their dull and monotonous appearance, but add poplars and
you immediately create an interest and give a certain character to the group
which it did not before possess.

434

LOMBARDY POPLAR

Lombardy Poplar, Populus nigra italics

Leaves \yz' to 3' long.

GYMNOSPERMAE

PINACE.E— PINE FAMILY

PINES. CONIFERS

Pin&cece. Conifera.

The Cone Bearers form an extremely interesting natural
group of trees. They were so named originally, because of
their fruit of which the pine cone is a typical example.
They are commonly known as Evergreens because with the
exception of the Larch and the Bald Cypress their leaves
remain upon the branches over the winter. These, how-
ever, are but outward and visible signs of an inward and
structural difference which removes the Pines far away
from their companions in the forests of to-day. Without
going into technical details, two general principles may be
noted. In the first place, every plant is rated in the natural
system according to the simplicity or complexity of its floral
organs, and by its antiquity as indicated in the geological
record.

Now the Pines are a survival from the devonian age.
They were contemporaries of the Lycopods, the Sigillards
and the Cycads, whose remains constitute our coal measures
to-day. They are the oldest living representatives of the
forests of the ancient world, and they retain the simplicity
of floral structure which marked the vegetation of those
early times. In the flower of a conifer there is no ovary;
the ovule lies naked upon the surface of a scale. There are
no stigmas, no insect is needed to aid in the fertilization,
the fate of the Pines depends upon the wind. The scientists
calmly assign the Contfera to a place, with the Club-mosses
on one side and the Cat-tails on the other. This arrangement
fairly takes the breath of a layman or an amateur but it is
unassailable, they belong there.

439

PINE FAMILY

The Ptnacece as now constituted comprises the Pine, Larch,
Spruce, Hemlock, Fir, Cypress, Sequoia, Cedar, Arborvitae,
and Juniper. The Yew and the Gingko, a naturalized Chinese
tree, belong to the Taxacecz or Yew family.

THE PINE

Pinus.

There occur within the limits of the United States thirty-
nine species of Pine ; seven are found in New England and
middle Atlantic states, seven flourish principally in the low-
lands of the south and twenty-five are recognized in the
west. The central basin of the Mississippi has none. They
are tolerant of many conditions of soil and climate ; they
flourish on the lowlands at the water's edge ; they climb the
mountains to the timber line ; they inhabit the drifting sands
upon the shore and keep back the waves of the sea. The
method of growth is peculiar and characteristic. The
branches are disposed in regular order, circularly in imper-
fect whorls around the central trunk. One of these whorls
is formed each year from the row of branch buds which en-
circle the main stem and these whorls furnish an easy way to
tell the age of young trees. But in the forest these branches
die and even the marks of them disappear so that the trunk
rises a smooth unbroken shaft for sixty or one hundred
feet.

The roots of the Pine never descend deep and they are
practically imperishable by the action of the elements alone.

TWhen pine lands are cleared, the stumps are often made into
fences, by placing them in rows, with their roots interlacing.

- Such fences are both picturesque and enduring.

The wood may be hard or soft but it is usually resinous.
The other products are turpentine, rosin and tar. Turpen-
tine is the resinous exudation of the tree, obtained in this
country by cutting a pocket through the bark into the wood

440

PINE

and allowing the resinous juices to collect there, This crude
turpentine when distilled gives pure spirits of turpentine and
rosin. Tar is obtained by the destructive distillation of the
wood, which in the southern states is done in a very crude
and wasteful manner.

The leaves are of two kinds, primary and secondary. The
primary leaves are usually simple scales but sometimes they
appear green and linear. The secondary are the evergreen
needles which make up the ordinary foliage of the tree.
These arise from the axils of the primary leaves in clusters
of two to five, surrounded by a sheath which is formed by
the union of several bud scales.

In the two-leaved clusters the needles are flat above, con-
vex below ; in those clusters containing three or more, the
needles are triangular, more or less keeled. The margins
are serrulate, the tips usually callous.

The flowers are naked, monoecious and appear in early,
spring. The staminate flowers are clustered at the base of
the leafy shoots of the year in the axils of bracts ; are yel-
low, orange, or scarlet ; oval, cylindrical, or oblong. They
are composed of many, sessile, two-celled anthers, imbricated
in many ranks, upon a central axis, each anther surmounted
by a crest-like, semiorbicular connective. Each flower is sur-
rounded at base by an involucre of scale-like bracts, usually
definite in number in each species, the two external bracts
strongly keeled at the back. The pollen of the pine is very
abundant. The pistillate or ovule-bearing flowers are sub-
terminal or lateral, solitary, in pairs, or in clusters, erect or
recurved, sessile or pedunculate, borne near the -apex of the
axils of bud-scales. They are composed of many carpel-like
scales, each in the axil of a small bract, and spirally arranged
about a central axis. Each bract is rounded, obtuse, and
bears on the inner surface near the base two, naked, inverted
ovules.

The fruit is a woody strobile called a cone, which matures
the second or third year after flowering. The seeds are in
pairs, attached at the base in shallow depressions on the inner

441

PINE FAMILY

surface of the scales. As they fall away they take with them
portions of the membranaceous lining of the scale which form
wing-like attachments. The cotyledons vary from three to
eighteen. Pines may be easily raised from seeds which, how-
ever, must not be permitted to become dry as they soon lose
their vitality.

"^The world finds many of its most important timber trees
among the Pines, and the wood is used in such enormous
quantities that the destruction of the forests is inevitable.
Even if left to itself it, undoubtedly, would in course of time
have succumbed under the hard conditions of the modern
world ; but now that man has come into the field with axe
and torch, there is no escape, the Pine is doomed ; and must
live hereafter, if it lives at all, as a domestic tree, the object
of man's care and protection.

As Darwin states the situation, "The Oaks have driven
the fines to the sands." The Pine is handicapped in the
race of life because of its inability to reproduce itself with
the vigor of other trees. As soon as it is cut down the root
dies, there exists no power of sending forth shoots from the
stump and forcing new growth. There are exceptions to
this rule but this is the general law. The pine seed is light,
its vitality fleeting, and it must find favorable conditions at
once or its chance is gone. The acorn can wait, and so the
Pines have been steadily driven backward by the nut-bearing
trees and especially the oaks, foot by foot, from the deep
rich soil until the proper characterization of their habitat
is not, "Centres of Distribution," but "Areas of Preserva-
tion."

The following table will assist in the determination of
species.

Leaves 5 in a sheath ; 3' to 4' long ; cone-scales slightly thickened at the tip.

P. strobus. White Pine.
Leaves 2 or 3, in a sheath ; cone-scales much thickened at the tip.

I — Cones Terminal or Subterminal :

Leaves 2 in a long sheath; 4' to 6' long; cone ovate-conical, i^' to
2%' long; scales without prickles. P. resinous. Red Pine.

442

WHITE PINE

Leaves 3 in a long sheath ; 10' to 16' long ; cones 6' to 10' long ;
scales prickle-tipped. P. palustris. Long-leaved Pine.

I — Cones Lateral :

Leaves 3 in a sheath (rarely 2 or 4) ; 6' to 10' long ; cones ovate-ob-
long, 3' to 5' long ; scales with stout recurved prickles.

P. taeda. Loblolly Pine.

Leaves 3 in a sheath; 3' to 5' long; cones ovoid-conical or ovoid, i'
to 3/^' long, often clustered; scales with short, stout, recurved
prickles. P. rigida. Pitch Pine.

Leaves 2 in a sheath; %' to 2.%' long; cones oblong-conical, in-
curved, i^' to 2' long; scales with minute often deciduous prickles.

P. divaricata. Gray Pine.

Leaves 2 in a sheath (rarely 3) ; 3' to 5' long ; cones oblong-conical
or ovate, i)^' to 2^' long; scales with slender prickles.

P. echinata. Yellow Pine.

Leaves 2 in a sheath; \yz' to 3' long; cones oblong-conical often
curved, i^' to 3' long; scales with slender, straight or incurved
prickles. P. virginiana. Jersey Pine.

Leaves 2 in a sheath ; 4' to 6' long ; cones ovate, 2' to 3' long ;
scales spineless ; cultivated.

P. laricio. var. austriaca. Austrian Pine.

Leaves 2 in a sheath ; 2' to 4' long, twisted, bluish green ; cones ovoid-
conic, 2' to 3' long ; scales spineless ; cultivated.

P. sylvestris. Scotch Pine. Scotch Fir.

WHITE PINE. WEYMOUTH PINE

Plnus strbbus.

Strobus, the name of a Persian tree now unknown. Weymouth is
the name common in England because this pine was first cultivated
by Lord Weymouth.

When growing under favorable conditions reaches the height of
one hundred and twenty feet with a diameter of three to four feet,
rarely, it becomes much higher. Flourishes on sandy soil especially
that formed by disintegration of granite rock. Roots stout, horizon-
tal, practically imperishable. Branches horizontal and in whorls.
Grows rapidly and forms dense forests. Ranges from Newfound-
land to Manitoba, south along the Alleghanies to Georgia and south-
west to the valley of the Iowa. Ascends 4,300 feet in North Caro-
lina and 2,300 feet in the Adirondacks.

443

PINE FAMILY

Bark. — On old trees dark gray, divided by shallow fissures into
broad scaly ridges. On young stems and branches, thin, smooth,
lustrous, brownish green. Branchlets slender at first covered with
rusty tomentum, later they become dark yellow brown, smooth,

becoming darker as the branch becomes older.

Charged with tannic acid.

Wood. — Light brown, sapwood nearly white ; light,
soft, compact, straight-grained, very resinous, easily
worked, takes a fine polish. Pumpkin pine is the
close-grained valuable wood of large trees that have
grown to a great age on rich well-drained soil. Used
for lumber, shingles, cabinet-making, interior of
houses, masts and spars of vessels. Sp. gr., 0.3854;
weight of cu. ft., 24.02 Ibs.

Biids. — The branch buds are ovate-oblong, acu-
minate, covered by ovate-lanceolate, light brown
scales ; terminal bud usually about one-half an inch
long, sometimes as short as the lateral ones that
surround it.

Leaves. — In clusters of fives ; they come out of
the buds which are enclosed under the scales of the
branch bud. The buds of leaf clusters are covered
by eight scales which lengthen with the growing
leaves. The leaves when full grown are soft, slen-
der, bluish green, glaucous, three to five inches long,
sharply serrate, mucronate with pale tip ; usually
turn yellow and fall in September of second year.
Fibro-vascular bundle one ; sheath loose, decid-
uous.

Flowers. — June. Staminate flowers oval, light
White Pine, Pinus brown, about one-third of an inch long, surrounded
strobus. Leaves by six to eight involucral bracts ; anthers with short
3' to 4' long. crests; involucral bracts six to eight. Pistillate
flowers cylindrical, subterminal, about one-fourth
an inch long ; scales pinkish purple on the margins ; peduncles
stout, clothed with bracts. Pollen very abundant.

Cones. — Subterminal, drooping, cylindrical, often slightly curved,
four to six inches long, one inch in diameter. Mature in autumn of
second year ; open and discharge seeds during September and fall
gradually during the winter and early spring. Scales one and one-
fourth to one and one-half inches long. Seven-eighths of an inch
wide, oblong-ovate, slightly thickened at apex, obtuse or nearly trun-
cate, without spine or prickle ; seeds red brown, mottled ; wing
nearly an inch long ; cotyledons eight to ten.

Its cloudy boughs singing as suiteth the pine,

To snow bearded sea kings, old songs of the brine.

—JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL,

444

WHITE PINE

White Pine, Pinus strobus.

Leaves 5 in a sheath, 3' to 4' long.

PINE FAMILY

The murmuring pines and the hemlocks

Bearded with moss and in garments green, indistinct in the twilight
Stand like Druids of eld with voices sad and prophetic,
Stand like harpers hoar with beards that rest on their bosoms.

—HENRY W. LONGFELLOW.

Many voices there are in Nature's choir, and none but were good to hear
Had we mastered the laws of their music well, and could read their meaning

clear ;

But we who can feel at Nature's touch, cannot think as yet with her thought ;
And I only know that the sough of the pines with a spell of its own is fraught.

— ERASER'S MAGAZINE.

The White Pine is the tallest, the most stately and beauti-
ful of all our eastern conifers, it is the most ornamental for
parks and lawns, as well as by far the most valuable econom-
ically. In the forest it grows straight as an arrow, towering
branchless until it gains the forest roof where it spreads out
a more or less open head ; in the open it takes on the form
of all free growing trees, the lower branches live and lengthen,
the trunk gets fat and sturdy. But no one pine is ever so
beautiful as a grove of pines. The great shafts towering up-
ward like corinthian columns — the ceaseless murmur of the
wind in the tree-tops — the soft brown carpet of fallen needles
— the subdued light — the stillness — the absence of joyous life
— all unite to induce feelings of reverence and awe.

The White Pine bears the smoothest bark of all the pines,
on old trunks it does indeed fissure and separate into small
plates but they are simply loose at the edges and do not
scale off. On young stems the bark is very smooth, a red-
dish green or reddish brown and covered in summer with a
very striking ashy or pearly gloss. The primary leaves are
simply thin and chaff-like bud-scales, from their axils proceed
the secondary needle-shaped evergreen leaves in clusters of
five. A cross section of these needle-shaped leaves is trian-
gular. The edges are serrate. The massed foliage is beau-
tiful ; the needles are bright bluish green, soft, slender,
delicate, and disposed in pretty tassels upon the branch.
Although, apparently, to an evergreen all seasons are the
same, yet the White Pine has a fashion of folding its needles

446

WHITE PINE

Trunk of White Pine, Pinus strobus.

A Cultivated Tree.

PINE FAMILY

together when cold weather comes as if it were preparing for
a long winter's sleep.

The cones are long, slender, loose, and terminal, without
spine or prickle, and fall in the winter of their second year.
The seeds should be sown in the spring and covered lightly,
if at all. The seedlings are delicate and should always be
protected from both wind and sun.

The expression, " Bearded with moss," is more than a poet's
fancy. Tufts of gray moss are found abundantly on the
trunks of all pines that grow in damp, close, northern woods,
'the thread is round and fine like a hair, and a bunch of
the moss constantly suggests the gray beard of an old man.
This moss plays an important part in the domestic life of the
northern Indians, it is in this warm, soft substance that the
Indian babies are packed for transportation on their cradle
boards. A good Indian mother gathers it by the bushel, it is
like linen for the tender flesh, it is soft, resinous, aseptic,
porous, healthful ; and the small brown baby swathed in moss
may be quite as well off physically as his civilized neighbor
clothed in flannel and linen.

The economic value of the White Pine gives to its life
history an interest which under other circumstances it might
not have. It is clear that the commercial supply will soon
be exhausted. The best pines of the northern states have
already been cut, a few forest tracts still remain but they are
in process of extinction.

The White Pine has considerable vitality and has shown
itself capable of taking possession of the abandoned lands of
New England, where vigorous young forests are springing
up on land worthless for any other crop. But it cannot
come again on a tract that has been devastated by fire.

448

WHITE PINE

White Pine, Pinus strobus.

Cones 4' to 6' long.

PINE FAMILY

RED PINE. NORWAY PINE. CANADIAN PINE

Plnus resinbsa.

Usually seventy to eighty feet high, with straight trunk two to
three feet diameter ; in old age forming an open picturesque head.
Range is northward from Newfoundland to Manitoba, in United
States is most abundant in Michigan, Wis-
consin, and Minnesota. Found on dry gravel-
ly or light sandy soils, or dry rocky ridges.
Grows rapidly in cultivation.

Bark. — Bright reddish brown, divided by
shallow fissures into shallow scaly ridges.
Branchlets stout, smooth, pale orange at first,
then darker orange and finally reddish brown.
Charged with tannic acid.

Wood. — Pale red, sapwood yellow or white ;
light, hard, close-grained. Contains broad,
dark-colored, very resinous bands of small
summer cells. Used for buildings, bridges,
piles, masts and spars ; largely exported from
Canada. Sp. gr., 0.4854 ; weight of cu. ft.,
30.25 Ibs.

Buds. — Branch-buds ovate, acute, one to
three-fourths of an inch long, covered with
loosely imbricated, pale brown scales ; bases
of scales persistent for several years.

Leaves. — In clusters of two ; four to six
inches long, slender, flexible, dark green,
shining, serrulate, acute with callous tips ;
fibre-vascular bundles two ; sheaths firm, per-
sistent, half an inch to an inch long.

Flowers. — Staminate flowers borne in a
dense cluster on the recent shoots, occupying
the place of the leaves for an inch or more,
linear-oblong, one-fourth to three-fourths of
an inch long ; anthers dark reddish purple
with orbicular toothed crests ; scales six, de-
ciduous by articulation above the base. Pistil-
late flowers terminal, almost globular ; scales
scarlet, ovate, borne on stout peduncles cov-
ered with pale brown bracts.
Cones. — Subterminal, solitary or clustered, mature the second
year, ovate-conical, two to two and one-half inches long, smooth,
scales slightly thickened at the apex, rounded, devoid of spine or

450

Red Pine, Pinus rcsinosa.
Leaves 4' to & long.

RED PINE

prickle. Seeds oval, compressed, one-eighth of an inch long, chest-
nut brown, mottled ; wings three-quarters of an inch long one-quarter
wide, broadest below the middle.

The Red Pine is a northern tree and finds its most con-
genial home in Newfoundland and westward along the north-
ern shore of the St. Lawrence, through Ontario and Mani-
toba, coming but sparingly into the United States. It does
not make close forests, hence it is not a timber tree. It
grows when possible in the open ; in the forest one looks for
it at the edge of a lake where, at least, it may have light and
air and freedom on one side. It is usually found alone on
dry, sandy, gravelly or rocky places, never on flat lands with
cold clay bottoms. It is a very beautiful tree. The branches
are in distinct whorls, the branchlets are stout and covered
with a thick false bark, composed of the bases of the leaf
scales which run down along the stem. The leaves are four
to six inches long, in clusters of two, and form very conspicu-
ous tufts at the end of the branchlets. The sheaths are long
and it is a common amusement among children to pull out one
leaf, put the point of the remaining one into the vacant place,
and so make a link of a leafy chain.

The glory of the Red Pine is its staminate blossoms.
Imagine a tree, eighteen inches in diameter and fifty feet high,
branching near the ground as regularly as an oak and stand-
ing in an open space on the bank of a northern lake. The
dark green leaves covered with pale bloom give a shim-
mering effect as they respond to the slightest movements of
the wind. From top to bottom, on the tip of every branch
may be seen in early spring the dark red tassels of staminate
blossoms, short and thick and crowded forming a cluster that
so far as effect goes is a deep red rose. The supreme mo-
ment is brief, the flowers wither very soon, cast their pollen
to the wind and are gone. Well developed Red Pine trees
are so rare in northern Minnesota that they are landmarks ;
the finest are found on the Indian reservations where they
have escaped the axe and the torch. The cones are short,
unarmed, ovate-conical, a bright cinnamon brown like the

45i

PINE FAMILY

bark, and fairly clear of resin. They are scattered along the
branches and are not very numerous. They hold their seeds
fairly well. In the spring as the snow begins to go and the
birds come back, the little red-breasted cross-bill stops on
its way north to feed on these seeds. The birds come in
flocks and take possession of a tree ; and it is interesting
to see their little hooked bills jerk out the seeds from the
cones. The Red Pine should find a place in every park.

LOBLOLLY PINE. OLD FIELD PINE

Plnus tatda.
Taeda, the torch, was the classical name of a resinous pine tree.

Varying from eighty to one hundred feet with a tall straight trunk.
A southern tree but ranging as far north as New Jersey. Inhabits
the low lands adjacent to tide-water : rarely makes pure forests.

Loves the swamps, but is found in
the sandy borders of Pine-barrens.
In the southwest it becomes an im-
portant timber tree. Grows rapidly;
tap root large and strong. Fragrant.

Bark. — Reddish brown with shal-
low fissures and broad, flat, scaly
ridges. Branchlets glaucous,
smooth, yellow brown and covered
with the brown, reflexed, inner
scales of the branch-buds which
persist for several years.

Wood. — Variable in value, light
brown, sapwood pale. The more
northern tree produces lumber
which is weak, brittle, coarse-
grained, not durable ; the southern
tree produces a better quality ;
resinous.

Buds. — Branch - buds, obovate-
oblong, acute or acuminate at
apex, with brown scales which
terminate in long, slender, dark

Loblolly Pine, Pfnus taeda. tips. Terminal buds much larger

Leaves (/ to ic/ long. than the lateral buds.

452

LOBLOLLY PINE

Lublolly Fine, Pinus taeda.
Cones y to 5' long.

PINE FAMl'LY

Leaves. — In clusters of three, slender, stiff, slightly twisted, acute
with callous tips, serrulate, pale green, glaucous, six to ten inches
long; fibre-vascular bundles two. Sheaths close, thin.

Flowers. — April, May. Staminate flowers clustered, cylindrical,
three-fourths of an inch long ; anthers yellow with rounded denticu-
late crests ; involucral bracts eight to ten. Pistillate flowers lateral,
not far from the apex of the growing shoot which is several inches
long before they appear ; solitary or in pairs, sometimes in clusters of
three. Scales yellow ; peduncles short, covered by brown acuminate
bracts.

Cones. — Lateral, ovate-oblong, three to five inches long. Scales
armed with stout recurved prickles, slightly concave, rounded at the
apex. Seeds dark brown blotched with black, rhomboidal ; wings
thin, fragile, three-fourths of an inch long.

Scales thickened at apex, transverse ridge prominent, armed with
stout recurved prickles, slightly concave, rounded.

PITCH PINE. TORCH PINE

Pinus rigida.

Usually fifty or sixty feet in height, with short trunk ; bears
cones when quite small ; capable of producing vigorous shoots from
both stem and stump after injury by fire. Bears both primary and
secondary leaves. Ranges from New Brunswick to Georgia, west-
ward to Kentucky and Tennessee. Found in dry sands or rocky
soil and in cold deep swamps. Ascends 3,000 feet above the sea
in Virginia.

Bark. — Dark reddish brown, with deep fissures and broad, flat,
scaly ridges. On young stems thin and broken into plate-like, dark,
red brown strips. Branchlets smooth, bright green at first, become
orange yellow, finally a dark gray brown.

Wood. — Light brown or red, sapwood yellow or white ; light, soft,
not strong, coarse-grained, durable, very resinous. Used for lum-
ber, fuel, and charcoal. Sp. gr., 0.5151 ; weight of cu. ft., 32.10 Ibs.

Buds.— Branch-buds obovate-oblong, acute, one to three-fourths
of an inch long ; scales dark brown, shining, fringed ; bases per-
sistent for years.

Leaves. — Primary leaves are often borne on vigorous shoots start-
ing from an injured trunk. Secondary leaves in clusters of three,
stout, rigid, dark yellow green, three to five inches long ; fibro-
vascular bundles two ; sheaths one-half to one inch long.

Flowers. — April, May. Staminate flowers clustered on the stem,
cylindrical, three-fourths of an inch long ; anthers yellow with nearly
orbicular entire crests ; involucral bracts six to eight. Pistillate
flowers lateral, clustered ; scales pale green tinged with rose, acute,
with slender tips ; peduncles covered with dark brown bracts.

454

PITCH PINE

-Pitch Pine, Pinns rigida.

Cones i' to 3' long.

PINE FAMILY

Cones. — Ovoid-conical or ovate, one to three inches long, often
clustered ; scales thickened at apex, the transverse ridge acute,
armed with short recurved prickles, flat. Often
persist on the branches for several years. Seeds
nearly triangular, dark brown mottled with black ;
wings three-fourths of an inch long, broadest below
the middle.

The Pitch Pine is, perhaps, the most virile of
the genus ; it certainly flourishes under most
adverse conditions, for it will " cling like a
limpet to the rocks," or it will go down to the
barren sands of the sea-shore and cover vast
tracts so densely that the moving dunes can
move no more. It is even tolerant of a salt
sea bath. It is the only pine that can send
forth shoots after injury by fire.

Its economic value is not great, the wood is
too thoroughly saturated with resin to be val-
uable as lumber. Its value is chiefly as fuel.
Tar and turpentine can be obtained from it
but much more easily and of better quality
from the southern pines. In dense woods the

3' to 5' long. tortuous, angled and often picturesque.

JERSEY PINE. SCRUB PINE

Plnus virgini&na. Plmts indps.

Usually thirty or forty feet high with a short trunk, long horizontal
branches in remote whorls forming a broad pyramidal head. Found
on light sandy soil and especially in Virginia and Maryland on ex-
hausted lands. In Indiana it is found one hundred feet high. In
Virginia it ascends 3,300 feet above the sea.

.—F)2x\i brown with reddish tinge, divided by shallow fissures
into flat scaly plates. Branchlets are pale green and glaucous at
first, sometimes with purple tinge, finally becoming pale gray
brown.

Wood. — Pale orange, sapwood nearly white ; light, soft, brittle,
slightly resinous. Sp. gr., 0.5309; weight of cu. ft., 33.09 Ibs.

456

JERSEY PINE

J^rs^y Fine, Pinus -cirginiana.
Leaves \' to 3' long. Cones of one, two, and three years' growth.

PINE FAMILY

Buds. — Branch-buds ovate, acute, about one-half
an inch long, covered with acute, ovate, brown scales,
leaving their thickened base as they fall.

Leaves, — In clusters of two, stout, bright green,
one and one-half to three inches long, twisted, soft,
fragrant, serrulate, acute with callous points ; fibro-
vascular bundles two.

Flowers. — April, May. Staminate flowers in
crowded clusters, oblong, one-third of an inch long ;
anthers brownish yellow with orbicular denticulate
crests ; involucral bracts eight. Pistillate flowers
near the middle of the shoot of the year. Sub-
globose, scales pale green, ovate with long, slender,
reddish tips ; scales orbicular. Peduncles long,
covered with brown bracts.

Cones. — Lateral, oblong-conical, more or less
Pine curved> one to three inches long, persistent for three
pSjnus viret'n- or ^our Years- Scales nearly flat, thickened at apex,
iana. Leaves armed with persistent prickles. Seeds oval, pale
\yz' to 3' brown; wings broadest at middle, dark brown,
long. thin, smooth, one-third of an inch long.

YELLOW PINE. SHORTLEAF PINE.
SPRUCE PINE

Pinus echinhta.

Usually eighty or one hundred feet high, with a tall
tapering stem and a short pyramidal head of slender
branches. Trunks injured by fire will often produce
shoots which are covered with lanceolate, long-
pointed, gray green primary leaves. Ranges in
sandy soil from southern New York to Florida and
west to Illinois, Kansas and Texas. Often forms
pure forests. A valuable timber tree, sometimes
worked for turpentine. Fruits when very young.

Bark. — Pale reddish brown, irregularly fissured,
covered with small appressed scales. Branchlets
stout, pale green or purple, glaucous, later become
red brown, finally dark brown.

Wood. — Orange or yellow brown, sapwood nearly
white ; varies in quality, the best is heavy, hard,
strong, coarse-grained, very resinous. Sp. gr., o. 6104;
weight of cu. ft., 38.04 Ibs.

Leaves. — Borne in clusters of two, or of three,

458

YELLOW PINE

Yellow Pine, Ptnus echinata.

Cones i %' to 2' long.

PINE FAMILY

rarely of four, slender, dark blue green, serrulate, acute, with
callous tips, soft, three to five inches long ; fibro-vascular bundles
two. Sheaths thin, silvery white at first, later become dark grayish
brown. Persist from two to five years.

Flowers. — Staminate flowers in short crowded clusters, near the
tip of the growing shoots, oblong-cylindrical, three-quarters of an
inch long ; anthers pale purple with orbicular, slightly denticulate
crests ; involucral bracts eight to ten. Pistillate flowers in clusters
of two, three or four, subterminal, oblong or subglobose, one-third
of an inch long ; scales ovate, rose pink, with slender tips ; bracts
nearly orbicular.

Cones. — Lateral, very abundant, ovate or oblong-conical, one and
a half to two and a half inches long, persist several years. Scales
nearly flat, obtuse, thickened at apex, marked with a prominent
transverse ridge, armed with small, slender, nearly straight, de-
ciduous prickles. Seeds triangular, brown, mottled with black ;
wings broadest at the middle, thin, pale brown, one-half an inch
long.

GRAY PINE. JACK PINE. SCRUB PINE

Pmus divaric&ta.

Frequently seventy feet high with straight branchless trunk, long
spreading branches forming an open symmetrical head ; often much
shorter and sometimes shrubby. Fruits when very young. A north-
ern tree, ranging from Nova Scotia southward to Maine, New Hamp-
shire, and Vermont, westward to northern Indiana and Illinois, and
in the northwest to the valley of the Mackenzie River, where it is

the only pine tree. In sandy soil, sometimes

forming exclusive forests.

Bark. — Dark brown with reddish tinge, with
shallow rounded ridges separating into small ap-
pressed scales. Branchlets slender, tough, flex-
ible, pale yellow green, becoming dark reddish
purple and later dark purplish brown.

Wood. — Pale brown, rarely yellow, sapwood
nearly white ; light, soft, not strong, close-
grained. Used for fuel, railway ties, and posts.
Gray Pine, Finns di- Indians prefer it for frames of canoes.

varicata. Leaves Buds. — Branch-buds ovate with rounded apex,
i' to 2#' long. terminal bud one-fourth of an inch long, as long
again as the lateral buds. Covered with ovate-
lanceolate pale brown scales with spreading tips, whose bases
persist after the body of the scale has fallen and roughen the
branch.

460

GRAY PINE

Gray Pine, Pinus divaricata.

Cones \%' to 2' long.

PINE FAMILY

Leaves. — In clusters of two, three-fourths to two and one-half
inches long, stout, curved, divergent, dark grayish green, serrulate,
acute with short callous point, persistent until second or third year ;
fibre-vascular bundles two. Sheaths short, loose, pale brown and
silvery white.

Flowers. — April, May. Staminate flowers in crowded clusters,
about an inch and a half in length ; oblong, one-half inch long ; an-
thers yellow ; crests orbicular, slightly denticulate ; involucral bracts
six to eight. Pistillate flowers borne in clusters of two to four on
the terminal shoot, subglobose ; scales dark purple, ovate with short
incurved tips. Peduncles stout, short, covered with large, brown,
ovate bracts.

Cones. — Lateral, one and one-half to two inches long, oblong-
conical, oblique, incurved. Scales thin, stiff, thickened at apex and
armed with small incurved often deciduous prickles. Persist for
many years. Seeds nearly triangular, almost black ; wings pale,
shining, one-third of an inch long. Cotyledons four to five.

The Gray Pine is the Scrub Pine of northern latitudes. In
good soil it makes a fair tree, but in barren soils one finds
miles and miles of scrub. The leaf is bluish green covered
with so marked a gray bloom that the foliage mass is posi-
tively gray. The leaves are in clusters of two, short, re-
curved, and divergent. The staminate flowers are greenish
yellow, more conspicuous than those of the White Pine, not
so large as those of the Red Pine, and for the few days they
are in bloom the tree is noticeable. Cones are small, twisted,
and look not fully developed for they do not open evenly.
They are light gray ; sometimes they shine almost silvery
out of the grayish mass of foliage.

AUSTRIAN PINE

Plnus laricio austrlaca.

The Austrian Pine is extensively planted throughout the
north in parks and lawns. The tree is native to the moun-
tains of eastern Europe, and there reaches the height of one
hundred and twenty feet. It bears our climate well, endures
extremes of both heat and cold, will flourish in any fair soil,
and always has a strong healthy look. Its leaves are not

462

AUSTRIAN PINE

Austrian Pine, Pinus austnaca.
Cones 27 to 3' long.

PINE FAMILY

unlike those of the Red Pine, they are from three to five
inches long borne in clusters of two, are a bright dark green,
and appear tufted on the branches. The cones are very like
those of the Red Pine, ovate, two to three inches long, and
the scales are destitute of prickles.

SCOTCH PINE; SCOTCH FIR

Plnus sylve'stris.

The Scotch Pine or Fir as it is called in England is perfectly
hardy throughout the north, where it is planted both as an
ornamental tree in parks and as a windbreak on the prairies.
It is a tree of wide distribution throughout Europe and Asia,
and is in fact, the principal timber pine of the eastern con-
tinent. But in the United States though beautiful when
young, it is not long-lived, and succumbs to disease and in-
sect enemies at the age of thirty or forty years.

The leaves are in clusters of two, an inch and a half to two
and a half in length, stout, rigid, slightly twisted, bluish or
grayish green. The cones are ovate, from an inch to an inch
and a quarter long and abundant on the tree.

WHITE SPRUCE

Plcea canacttnsis. Puea dlba.

A slender, conical, evergreen tree, usually sixty to seventy feet
high, its greatest height one hundred and fifty feet. Resinous ; foli-
age ill-smelling. Ranges from Newfoundland to Hudson Bay and
Alaska, southward to Maine, New York, and Michigan, west to
South Dakota, Montana, and British Columbia.

Bark. — Light grayish brown, separates into thin plate-like scales.
Branchlets at first stout, pale gray green, smooth, during first winter
orange brown, later become dark grayish brown.

Wood. — Light yellow ; light, soft, weak, straight-grained, satiny
surface. Used for construction, interior finish of houses, and wood
pulp.

Winter Buds. — Light chestnut brown, ovate, obtuse, one-eighth to
one-fourth of an inch long. Branch-buds usually three.

464

SCOTCH PINE

Scotch Pine, Finn's sylvestris.
Cones i' to \\if long.

PINE FAMILY

Leaves. — Spirally disposed, but crowded on the upper side of the
branches by the twisting of those on the lower ; they point forward
especially near the extremities of the branchlets. Linear, four-
sided, jointed at the base to short persistent sterigmata, incurved,
acute or acuminate at apex, with a rigid callous tip. Pale bluish-
green, hoary at first, becoming dark blue green at maturity, one-
third to three-fourths of an inch long.

Flowers. — April, May. Monoecious. Staminate flowers oblong-
cylindrical, axillary, one-half to three-fourths of an inch long, pedicels
half an inch long ; anthers pale red, becoming yellow from abun-
dance of pollen. Pistillate flowers oblong-cylindrical ; scales broad,
pale red or yellow green ; bracts nearly orbicular, denticulate.
Ovules two, naked upon the base of each scale.

Cones. — Oblong-cylindrical, slender, narrowed at each end, about
two inches long ; scales nearly orbicular, obscurely striate, margins
entire, pale brown, thin, lustrous, falling in autumn or early winter.
Seeds pale brown ; wings narrow, oblique at apex.

Three spruces are found east of the Rocky Mountains, the
White, the Black and the Red. All are trees of a northern
range belonging to regions of short summers and long win-
ters, or in a southern latitude they seek high elevations. They
are* evergreen, cone-like trees with slender spiry tops, tall
tapering trunks, and slender, whorled, horizontal branches
with branchlets twice and three times divided, and in old
trees pendent. The spiry tops of the spruces outlined against
the sky is one of the characteristics of a northern landscape.

They differ from the pines in that their leaves are much
shorter and placed singly upon the branches instead of being
clustered in groups. The arrangement of the leaves is char-
acteristic. They are set thickly on all sides of the branches.
They are borne upon short, rhombic, woody bases called
sterigmata, and falling when dry, they leave the bare twigs
covered with low truncate projections.

The White Spruce attains the greatest height of any of
the spruces, sometimes reaching one hundred and fifty feet,
with a trunk three feet in diameter. In the northwest it
touches the shore of the Arctic ocean and on the Atlantic
coast it extends down to southern Maine ; often growing so
close to the shore that it is bathed in the spray of the ocean. •
The foliage of the White Spruce is rich and beautiful but its

466

WHITE SPRUCE

Sprays of White Spruce, Picea canadensis.

Cones \%' to 2' long.

PINE FAMILY

odor is rather unpleasant and this alone will often suffice to
distinguish it from the Black Spruce. No other spruce grows
more luxuriantly or is more ornamental in parks and lawns
while in the vigor of youth, but as it becomes older it finds
the mild climate of the northern states uncongenial and soon
perishes or lives on in unsightly decrepitude. Resin exudes
from cuts and gashes and hardens into a white gum.
*

RED SPRUCE
Plcea rubens.

A conical evergreen tree usually seventy to eighty feet high, occa-
sionally one hundred feet, and upon its northern limit becoming a
semi-prostrate shrub. Ranges from Nova Scotia to North Carolina
and Tennessee. Grows slowly ; roots thick ; resinous.

Bark. — Reddish brown broken into thin irregular scales. Branch-
lets at first stout, pale green, pubescent, later become bright reddish-
brown or orange brown, finally becoming dark and scaly.

Wood. — Pale, slightly tinged with red, sapwood paler ; light, soft
close-grained, with satiny surface. Used in construction and in
production of wood pulp, also for sounding boards of musical in-
struments. Sp. gr., 0.4516; weight of cu. ft., 28.13 Ibs.

Winter Buds. — Pale reddish brown, ovate, acute, one-fourth to
one-third of an inch long.

Leaves. — Linear, four-sided, tipped at apex with callous point,
pale bluish green at first, dark shining green when mature ; midrib
prominent ; one-half to five-eighths of an inch long ; they stand out
from all sides of the branch, point forward, and are more or less in-
curved ; jointed at the base to short, persistent sterigmata.

Flowers. — April, May. Monoecious. Stamiriate • flowers oval,
almost sessile, one-half inch long ; anther crests bright red, toothed.
Pistillate flowers, oblong, cylindrical, three-quarters of an inch long.
Scales rounded, thin, erose at margin ; bracts rounded and lacini-
ate ; ovules two, naked on base of scale.

Cones. — Ovate-oblong, light reddish brown, shining, apex gradu-
ally acute, one and one-quarter to two inches long. Scales rounded,
entire or slightly toothed, striate. Seeds dark brown ; wings short
and broad.

The Red Spruce was for many years confounded with the
Black Spruce ; Professor Sargent draws a wide distinction
between them.

468

RED SPRUCE

Fruiting Spray of Red Spruce, Picea rubens.

Leaves i^' to 2' long.

PINE FAMILY

The cones of the Red Spruce are large and fall during the
first winter. Those of the Black Spruce are persistent for
many. years. Resinous exudations both of Red and Black
Spruce are used as chewing gums ; and the branches of both
are used in the domestic manufacture of beer.

Black Spruce is a tree of the far north existing but preca-
riously* south of the northern border of the United States,
while the Red Spruce is an Appalachian tree attaining its
greatest dimensions in northern New Hampshire and Penn-
sylvania.

BLACK SPRUCE.

Pzcea marihna. Plcea ntgra.

An evergreen conical tree, maximum height one hundred feet,
ordinary height fifty to eighty ; at the extreme north it dwarfs to a
shrub. Branches slender, usually pendulous with upward curve
forming an open and irregular head. Prefers a hilly and mountain-
ous region with an altitude of 1,200 to 2,000 feet, but is also found
in low swampy valleys. Resinous. Roots thick, wide spreading
near the surface, rootlets long, flexible, tough. Ranges from New-
foundland to Hudson Bay and the Mackenzie River ; southward in
Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota.

Bark. — Covered with thin, appressed, grayish brown scales.
Branchlets at first pale green, pubescent, later they become cinna-
mon brown, finally dark brown. Bark has no commercial value.

Wood. — Pale, often with reddish tinge, sapwood pure white ; light,
soft, weak. Used for wood pulp and house building, sounding-
boards for pianos ; fuel value slight. Sp. gr., 0.5272 ; weight of cu.
ft., 32.86 Ibs.

Winter Suds. — Branch buds usually three, light reddish-brown,
ovate, one-eighth of an inch long.

Leaves. — Spirally disposed, thickly set and spreading in all direc-
tions ; jointed at the base to short, persistent, pubescent sterigmata
on which they are sessile ; falling away in drying, the bare twigs
appear covered with low truncate projections. Linear, one-fourth
to three-fourths of an inch long, four-sided ; ribbed above and
below, abruptly contracted at apex into a callous tip, slightly in-
curved above the middle. Pale blue green at first, dark bluish-
green at maturity, hoary on lower surface, lustrous on the upper.
Persistent for several years.

470

BLACK SPRUCE

fruiting Spray of Black Spruce, Picea manana.,

Cones i' to \W long.

PINE FAMILY

Flowers. — May, June ; monoecious. Staminate flowers one-eighth
inch long, in subglobose axillary aments ; anthers dark red with
nearly circular, toothed crests. Pistillate aments oblong-cylindrical
with obovate purple scales ; bracts purple ; ovules two, naked on the
base of each scale.

Cones. — Terminal on short branches, pale yellow brown, oval or
ovate ; one to one and one-half inches long ; incurved at base, dis-
charging their seeds slowly, and persistent for several years. Scales
ridged, rounded at apex, margins pale, erose, or jagged. Seeds
small, wings pale brown, shining, one-half inch long.

- The Black Spruce is essentially a Canadian tree growing
abundantly in the Labrador peninsula and forming great
forests in Manitoba. Comparatively rare in the United
States, it is found principally along the northern border of
New England and New York and most abundantly on the
lake-shores in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan. It has
very little beauty except when young. Then the branches
form a most regular and symmetrical outline, but as age
comes on it loses its youthful vigor and beauty and be-
comes prematurely old, misshapen, and unsightly. In the
forest all the lower branches fall off leaving a columnar
shaft which is crowned by a small open irregular head.

The Black Spruce derives its name from the dark green
of its foliage which when massed upon a mountain-side and
in shadow is of so sombre a hue as to appear black rather
than green. The name is given in distinction from the White
Spruce whose leaves are of a paler color. In the early
botanies the Black and the White Spruce were designated re-
spectively as double and single spruce, for reasons which are
not apparent, as the disposition of the leaves of each is the
same. In fact, these two species bear such resemblance to
each other that it is not always easy to distinguish them ;
the cones furnish the principal distinctive feature when the
flowering season is past. The cones of the Black Spruce are
ovate-oblong, have great staying powers, are always on the
trees at the flowering time and usually persist for several
years. The cones of the White -Spruce on the other hand
are oblong or cylindrical and usually fall before the flower-

472

» f

BLACK SPRUCE

ing time or during the heat of the second summer. The
young leaves of the White Spruce are visible at flower-
ing time, those of the Black Spruce are not. Resin flows
freely from cuts and gashes and soon hardens into a thick
white gum, which with slight preparation is sold as chewing
gum. The odor of the leaves is pleasantly resinous aromatic.

A favorite domestic drink called Spruce Beer was formerly
made by boiling the young branches in water and adding
to the decoction molasses and yeast in certain fixed propor-
tions, but its place has now been taken by other drinks.

One of the chief values of the wood is in the manufacture of
wood pulp. The characteristics of good pulp wood are : long
fibre to insure strength and felting property, light color to
save bleaching, soft texture that it may be easily ground,
and freedom from foreign matter such as resin, starchy and
coloring material.

The wood of all the Coniferce, is rich in those long coarse
fibres known as tracheids and contains relatively very few
short cells ; consequently all are valuable as pulp woods unless
they are more valuable for something else.

The Black Spruces of the Adirondacks fell victims a few
years ago to a blight which destroyed one-half of the mature
trees of the region. Expert investigation proved the cause
of this destruction to be the work of a small beetle. The in-
sects excavated a passage between the bark and the wood,
eating away part of both and practically girdling the tree.

NORWAY SPRUCE

Pice a excels a.

This is a native of the northern part of Europe as its name
denotes and consequently is hardy in the northern states. It
is the most satisfactory spruce tree that can be planted in
northern Ohio. It is a beautiful spiry-topped tree ; the
branches sweep downward with a graceful curve and the
branchtets, after the tree reaches the height of thirty feet or

473

PINE FAMILY

more, become pendulous. The cones are from four to six
inches long, beautifully pendent from the tips of the branches.
Take it, all in all, it is a very desirable tree, for ornament for
hedge or for wind-break.

The Norway Spruce is the great tree of the Alps. It there
reaches the height of one hundred and fifty feet, forms exten-
sive forests, endures severe cold and reaches the elevation
of 4,500 feet above the sea. Its wood is the white deal of
Europe ; its resin, Burgundy pitch.

HEMLOCK
Tsbga canacttmis.

A conical evergreen tree, usually sixty or seventy feet high, maxi-
mum height one hundred feet. Loves steep rocky banks and narrow
river gorges, often found on mountain sides. Bark rich in tannin.
Grows slowly. Ranges from Nova Scotia to Minnesota and through
Michigan and Wisconsin, southward to Georgia and Alabama,
reaches its largest size on the mountains of North Carolina and Ten-
nessee.

Bark. — Reddish brown or gray, deeply divided into ridges cov-
ered with closely appressed scales. Branchlets at first pale brown,
pubescent, later become darker, finally dark gray brown with purple
tinge.

Wood. — Light brown or white ; light, soft, brittle, coarse, crooked-
grained, difficult to work, liable to splinter. Makes coarse lumber.
Sp. gr., 0.4239 ; weight of cu. ft., 26.42 Ibs.

Winter Buds. — Light brown, obtuse, one-sixteenth of an inch long.

Leaves. — Linear, flat, obtuse, rounded or emarginate at apex, en-
tire or obscurely toothed above the middle, dark yellow green, shin-
ing above, hoary beneath, spirally arranged around the branch but
appearing two-ranked by the twisting of their petioles, jointed to a
very short sterigmata and falling away in drying. One -half to three-
fourths of an inch long. Petiole short.

Flowers — April, May. Monoecious. Staminate flowers axillary,
sub-globose, borne on slender stems, about three-eighths of an inch
long ; anthers pale yellow, pistillate flowers one-eighth of an inch
long, pale green. Scales short ; bracts broad, laciniate.

Cones. — Bright red brown, suspended on short peduncles, ovate —
oblong, acute, three-fourths to one inch long. Remain on branches
until spring. Seeds small • wings short, broad.

474

NORWAY SPRUCE

Fruiting Spray of Norway Spruce, Picea excelsa,

Cones 4' to 6' long.

PINE FAMILY

The Hemlock is one of the most beautiful of the cone
bearing trees ; and although similar in general form to the
spruces, rigidity has transformed itself into ease and formality
into grace and beauty. The branches are slender and pliant,
heavily clothed with foliage, drooping in habit and the lower
sweep the ground. As the tree becomes older they become
large and strong and stand out horizontally. The difference
between youth and age is marked. The wood is not valuable,
it has neither strength nor durability, but the bark is exten-
sively used in tanning and is the chief commercial product of
the tree.

TAMARACK. LARCH. HACMATACK

L&rix lariclna. L&rix americ&na.

Fifty to sixty feet high, trunk eighteen to twenty inches in diam-
eter, when young it forms a narrow pyramidal head and this con-
tinues in the forest, but in the open it loses its regular form and
develops a broad, open, irregular and often picturesque head. It
ranges northward to the arctic circle and its southern limit seems to
be along the line of northern Pennsylvania, northern Indiana, north-
ern Illinois, and central Minnesota. Prefers cold, deep swamps but
is occasionally found on dry land.

Bark. — Bright reddish brown, separating into thin appressed scales.
Branchlets pendulous, the young branches are green, smooth, and
glaucous, later light orange brown, gradually they become darker
and at last are dark brown.

Wood. — Light brown, very resinous, sapwood nearly white ; heavy,
hard, strong, rather coarse-grained, durable in contact with the soil.
Used for ship-timbers, fence posts, telegraph poles, and railway ties.
Sp. gr., 0.6236 ; weight of cu. ft., 38.86 Ibs.

Winter Buds. — Dark red, globose, lustrous, small.

Leaves. — Needle-shaped, rounded above keeled below, three-
fourths to one and one-fourth inches long, at first bright green,
later dark green. They turn pale yellow and fall in October. They
are borne, either scattered on leading shoots, or in crowded fascicles
on short lateral branchlets, each leaf in the axil of a minute, decid-
uous bud scale.

Flowers. — May, with the leaves. Monoecious. Staminate flowers
subglobose, sessile, usually borne on branchlets one or two years
old ; composed of many short-stalked anthers spirally arranged

476

HEMLOCK

Fruiting Branch of Hemlock, Tsuga canadenvs.

Leaves %' to y±' long. Cones %' to i' long.

PINE FAMILY

about a central axis ; anthers subglobase, pale yellow, two-celled;
connective pointed. Pistillate flowers oblong, pedunculate ; com-
posed of many orbicular rose red scales spirally arranged about a
central axis ; each scale in the axil of a pale rose colored bract with
a long green tip. Upon each scale lie two naked ovules.

Cones. — Bright chestnut brown, oblong, obtuse, one-half to three-
fourths of an inch long and borne on a short, stout, incurved stem.
Scales about twenty, the largest near the middle, the smaller at base
and apex. Cone falls during second year. Seed one-eighth of an
inch long, pale, with pale brown wings broadest in the middle.

" Give me of your roots, O Tamarack!
Of your fibrous roots, O Larch-Tree!
My canoe to bind together
So to bind the ends together
That the water may not enter
That the water may not wet me."

— HENRY W. LONGFELLOW.

One feature distinguishes the Tamarack from the other
northern conifers, it sheds its leaves in the autumn of the
year in which they are produced ; they turn a dull yellow and
fall as do those of the poplar and the maple. This is a tree
of the swamps and it serves a very valuable purpose in the
economy of nature. When in those northern lands where
it makes its home, a small lake has silted up from the sur-
rounding country and so far dried that the rushes disappear
from the margin and a coating of soil covers it ; the Tamarack
creeps down and takes possession and the result is a Tama-
rack swamp. It is often possible to push a pole down ten
feet into the mud about the roots of the trees of such a
swamp. The roots developed there, long, tough, stringy are
those Hiawatha needed for his canoe, those growing in dryer
soil are not so flexible. The Tamarack will go up the hill-
side, it can live on dry land, but it loves the swamp and will-
ingly yields the hillside to the spruces. In summer a Tama-
rack swamp is dark, cool, mossy ; in winter the appearance is
somewhat desolate because the leaves are gone and one in-
stinctively thinks of a leafless conifer as a dead tree.

The Tamarack and the Black Spruce go side by side tow-
ard the North Pole ; but at the ultimate boundary, at the very

478

TAMARACK

Fruiting Spray of Tamarack, Larix laricina.

Leaves */4' to 1%' long. Cones yS to ft' long.

PINE FAMILY

edge of the treeless plain, the Tamarack is found standing a
tiny tree, when its companion the Black Spruce is clinging to
the ground, like a creeping plant, to escape being torn away
by the force of the winds.

THE LARCH.

L&rix europcea.

The Larch which is extensively planted in parks and lawns
is not the American species but the European. The Euro-
pean Larch is the finer tree in general appearance and as it
naturally prefers loose well drained soil it flourishes where
our native species would die. The leaves are longer, they
clothe the branches more generously than those of the Amer-
ican species, the cones are larger and more abundant. It is
a tree of the mid-temperate regions as well as of the north
and is found in all the hill country of central Europe and
forms large forests in the Alps of France and Switzerland.

BALSAM FIR. BALSAM.

Abies balshmea.

A conical evergreen tree, usually fifty to sixty feet in height, with
trunk twelve to eighteen inches in diameter. On mountain tops and
arctic regions reduced to a prostrate shrub. Northernmost limit
yet observed is 62° ; upon the Appalachians it ranges to southwest-
ern Virginia. Loves moist alluvial land. Grows rapidly, is short-
lived. Resinous.

Bark. — On young trees pale gray, thin, smooth and marked by
swollen blisters filled with resin. On old trees reddish brown,
broken into small, irregular, scaly plates. Branchlets pale yellow
green, pubescent, later they become pale gray with reddish tinge,
finally reddish brown.

Wood. — Pale brown often streaked with yellow, sapwood paler ;
light, soft, weak. Coarse-grained, not durable. Used for cheap
lumber. Sp. gr., 0.3819 ; weight of cu. ft., 23.80 Ibs.

Winter Buds. — Greenish brown, tinged with red, globose, very
resinous.

480

LARCH

Fruiting Branch of Larch, Larix europcea.

PINE FAMILY

Leaves. — Linear, on young trees spreading at nearly right angles
to the branch, remote or crowded. On old trees crowded, covering
the upper side of branches. Dark green and shining above, pale
below ; obtusely short-pointed and occasionally emarginate, and on
fertile branches acute or acuminate ; vary from one-half to one and
one-quarter of an inch in length and one-sixteenth of an inch wide.
Persistent eight to ten years. Fragrant.

Flowers. — May, June. Monoecious. Staminate flowers oblong-
cylindrical, one-quarter of an inch long. Anthers yellow, tinged
with purple. Pistillate flowers oblong-cylindrical, one inch long ;
scales orbicular, purple ; bracts oblong-obovate, serrulate, yellow
green, contracted into long slender tips;

Cones. — Oblong-cylindrical, narrowed to the rdunded apex, dark
purple two to four inches long, three-quarters} td one and one-
quarter inches thick, upright ; scales broad, rotinded ; bracts ob-
long, serrulate, mucronate at the apex, shorter onbqual to the scales.

The Balsam Fir carries its resin, not. scattered through the
wood and under the bark as- do the pines, flowing freely with
gashes, but in superficial blisters in the bark itself. So
characteristic is this that the New York Indians name the
tree, Cho-koh-tung — " Blisters."

Whoever played as a child in northern woods remembers
with what delight he punctured these blisters in order to see
the clean limpid stream of resin flow out. As it comes from
the tree it has the consistency of glycerine. Under the'hame
of Canada Balsam it has been used in the Materia medico, and
it is the medium in which microscopic specimens, are pre-
served upon the plates.

In form the Balsam Fir resembles the spruces. When
young it is extremely beautiful, a slender symmetrical cone of
shining, dark green foliage. In the forest the lower branches
die but when the tree attains old age in the open, the head
becomes sharp-pointed and spire-like, the lower limbs become
pendulous sweeping the ground.

The leaves are flat, shining green above, a beautiful sil-
very color beneath, and very fragrant in drying. They are
arranged spirally around the branch, but appear two-ranked
because of a twist near the base ; occasionally they spread
from all sides of the branch, this is especially true on the
upper branches.

482

BALSAM FIR

Balsam Fir, Abies balsamea.

Leaves l/2' to i^' long.

PINE FAMILY

The boughs of the Balsam Fir are sought by the northern
hunter, fisherman, or tourist to make his wildwood bed. They
possess an elastic quality which fits them for the purpose.
The dried leaves are the material of which the much prized
fir pillows are made.

The cones are produced in great numbers, they sit erect
in rows on the upper side of the branches, are two to four
inches long, an inch or more thick, cylindrical, with rounded
ends. Bluish purple when young, they are often so abundant
on the upper branches that they give a soft purple haze to
the top of the tree.

In appearance the Balsam Fir resembles the Silver Fir of
Europe which is a much finer tree.

BALD CYPRESS. DECIDUOUS CYPRESS

Taxbdium distichum.

The Bald Cypress is a southern tree growing in swamps
and beside rivers, ranging from Delaware to Florida along
the coast and in the Mississippi valley, growing as far north
as southern Indiana. It is frequently planted in the parks
and lawns of northern Ohio where it is perfectly hardy and
becomes a tall, slender, spiry tree. Like the Tamarack its
leaves are deciduous, falling in October. These are of two
kinds ; the ordinary leaf is narrowly linear, flat, thin, one-half
to three-fourths of an inch long, one-twelfth of an inch
wide, apparently two - ranked ; when full grown is bright
yellow green both above and below. In autumn they turn
a dull orange brown before falling. The scale-like leaves
appear on the flowering stem. The cones are globular or
obovate, usually about an inch in diameter and appear irreg-
ularly along the branch.

This is the tree that when growing in the swamps forms
the well-known cypress-knees. These are a development of
the roots and appear in greatest size and numbers when the
tree grows on submerged land. It seems to be an effort of
the roots to get out of water and into the air.

484

BALD CYPRESS

Bald Cypress, Taxodium dislichum.
Leaves %' to %' long.

PINE FAMILY

The famous Cypress of Montezuma in the gardens of Che-
pultepec is a species of Taxodium. This was a noted tree
four centuries ago, and is believed to be about seven hundred
years old. It is one hundred and seventy feet high and about
fifteen feet in diameter.

ARBORVIT^. WHITE CEDAR
Thuja occidentals.

Thuja is derived from a Greek word signifying, to sacrifice, the
wood having been used in sacrificial offerings because of its agree-
able odor. Occidentalis, western. Arborvitae, Tree of Life, is
supposed to have been given because the bark and twigs have
been used in medicine.

A narrow, conical, evergreen tree with flat frond-like foliage ;
reaches the height of sixty feet. Inhabits wet soil along the banks
of streams and forms almost impenetrable forests northward ; ranges
across the continent from New Brunswick to Manitoba and south-
ward to Minnesota, Illinois and in the Atlantic region along the
mountains to North Carolina and Tennessee. Roots fibrous ; juices
medicinal. Wood, bark, and foliage resinous, aromatic.

Bark. — Light reddish brown, slightly furrowed, on old trunks de-
ciduous in ragged strips. Branchlets at first flat, disposed in one
horizontal plane, light yellow green, changing with the death of the
leaves during their second season to light cinnamon red, and grow-
ing darker the next year. Gradually becoming terete they are cov-
ered with dark yellow, coarse bark. Rich in tannin.

Wood. — Fragrant, light yellow brown, sap wood nearly white ;• light,
soft, brittle, coarse-grained and durable in contact with the soil.
Used for fence posts, rails, railway ties and shingles. Sp. gr.,
0.3164 ; weight of cu. ft., 19.72 Ibs.

Leaves. — Opposite, imbricated in four ranks, scale-like, appressed.
The scale-like leaves of the ultimate branches are nearly orbicular,
or ovate, the two lateral rows keeled, the two other rows flat and
cause the twig to appear much flattened ; many of the leaves bear a
raised glandular disk. When full grown are yellow green above
and below, in winter frequently become brown. The leaves of older
twigs are acute or acuminate and often remote. Leaves of seedlings
are lanceolate.

Flowers. — May. Monoecious, terminal, reddish brown, solitary.
Staminate and pistillate usually on different branchlets. Staminate

486

ARBORVIT^E

Fruiting Spray of Arborvitae, Thuja occidentalis*

PINE FAMILY

flowers minute, globose, consisting of four to six stamens arranged
upon a short axis ; filaments scale-like, bearing anther cells. Pistil-
late flowers small, oblong, or ovoid ; scales eight to twelve, oblong,
acute; reddish, the central or lower fertile, bearing two to four
ovules.

Fruit. — Cone, ripening first season. Pale cinnamon brown, erect,
oblong, one-third to one-half of an inch long ; scales six to twelve,
obtuse. Seed one-eighth of an inch long, winged.

This tree is commonly called Arborvitae, sometimes White
Cedar, and the Indians of New York call it, Oo-soo-ha-tah —
" Feather-leaf." The leaves are evergreen, arranged in four
rows in alternately opposite pairs, completely covering and
in fact seeming to make up the fan-like branchlets. They
are scale-like, each lower pair covering the base of the pair
above. The branchlets which they cover are arranged in a
single plane as if they were parts of one large, flat, compound
leaf. These planes are variously inclined to the horizon, often
vertical, and form a marked peculiarity of the tree. The
leaves when bruised exhale a very agreeable, aromatic, resin-
ous odor.

The Arborvitae has been extensively cultivated as an or-
namental tree for at least a century, and nearly fifty varieties
are recorded. The tree is so formal in outline that it rarely
harmonizes with other trees. Its form seems the result of
clipping shears but in reality it is its nature to look artificial.
It has merits. Because of the density of its foliage, it will
form a close leafy screen more effectually than any other
evergreen. It is tolerant of many and diverse conditions of
hot, cold, wet and dry, bears the knife well, and makes excel-
lent hedges. During the early winter it stands up bright and
green, during the weather changes of March and April it ap-
pears very brown, ragged, and discouraged, but all this is
atoned for when the golden green spray starts from every
leafy branch, and it responds to the influences of another
spring.

488

WHITE CEDAR

WHITE CEDAR.

Cupre'ssus thyoides. Chamacyparis spharoidea.

Cupressus is the classical name of the cypress tree. Chamczcyparis
is of Greek derivation and means a low cypress.

A conical evergreen tree with open, flat, fan-shaped spray, reaches
the maximum height of eighty feet. Prefers deep swamps and in
them forms impenetrable thickets. Ranges from Maine to Missis-
sippi along the coast ; endures salt water. Roots fibrous.

Bark. — Light reddish brown, furrowed, ridges often twisted around
the tree, scaly. Branchlets compressed at first, later become terete ;
slender, light green at first, then light reddish brown, finally dark
brown.

Wood. — Light brown with rose tinge, sapwood pale ; light, soft,
weak, close-grained, easily worked, very durable in contact with the
soil, fragrant. Used in boat building, cooperage, interior finish of
houses, fence posts and railway ties. Sp. gr., 0.3322 ; weight of cu.
ft., 20.70 Ibs.

Leaves. — Of ultimate branches opposite, imbricated in four rows,
scale-like, small, ovate, acute or acuminate, closely appressed or,
spreading at the apex, decurrent, often remote on vigorous shoots.
Four-ranked, those of the lateral rows keeled, those on vertical rows
slightly convex, each with a glandular disk on the back. The young
leaves are light bluish green, somewhat hoary below, when full grown
they become a dark blue green. During the winter in the north
when exposed to the sun they become a rusty brown.

Flowers. — April. Monoecious, minute. Staminate flowers are
oblong, four-sided, one-eighth of an inch long, consisting of several
shield-shaped scale-like filaments bearing two to four anthers.
Pistillate flowers globular, of about six shield-shaped scales, alternat-
ing in pairs and bearing generally two black ovules.

Fruit. — Woody, globular cone, ripens at end of first season ;
about one-fourth of an inch in diameter, sessile on a short leafy
branch. Light green and covered with glaucous bloom when full
grown, then bluish purple, very glaucous, finally dark red brown.
Scales are thick, shield-shaped, each with a central point or knob.
Seeds usually one or two under each fertile scale.

It is unfortunate that Cupressus thyoides and Thuja occiden-
talis are both popularly known as White Cedar. Thuja is
also known as Arborvitae, but many who know it as Arbor-
vitae also know it as White Cedar. This results in endless
confusion in the popular mind concerning the two trees,

489

PINE FAMILY

They have much in common ; both are evergreens of
formal habit. The branchlets of each are disposed in one
horizontal plane, and form an open, flat, fan-shaped spray.
The spray of the White Cedar is closer than that of Arbor-
vitae. The leaves of both are scale-like, opposite in pairs,
which makes them four-ranked, and so firmly pressed to the
twig and so closely overlapping each other that they seem to
be the twig itself. A tiny glandular disk is almost always
present on the scales of the White Cedar, frequently present
on those of the Arborvitse. The width of the ultimate
branchlets of the Arborvitae is nearly an eighth of an inch,
that of the White Cedar barely a sixteenth.

The cones are a marked and distinguishing difference be-
tween them. Those of the White Cedar are tiny round balls,
ornamented with various points and knobs. Those of the
Arborvitae are oblong and consist of six or eight loose
scales. White Cedar is the more southern tree. Arbor-
vitae has its chosen home in northern latitudes although both
are hardy throughout the northern states. The White Cedar
is especially a tree of the swamps, crowding as far into the
water as is possible while retaining a foothold of earth. Cedar
swamps as a rule are inaccessible except in midwinter on the
ice ; or in midsummer when the water is reduced to its lowest
stage. When the White Cedar arid the Bald Cypress inhabit
a swamp together, the former crowds to the centre and the
latter grows about the edges. Notwithstanding its love of
water it will grow in dry situations ; and twelve varieties are
reported as in cultivation.

As an illustration of the durability of the wood it may be
noted that the trunks of White Cedar, buried deep in the
swamps of New Jersey and Pennsylvania, are found to be un-
changed in character and to furnish excellent lumber.

490

WHITE CEDAR

Fruiting Spray of White Cedar, Cupressus tbyoides. Cbamcecyparh sphceroidea.

PINE FAMILY

JUNIPER. GROUND CEDAR

Jtmiperus commhnis.

Evergreen, varying from a low tree to an erect, or a matted or a
prostrate shrub. As a tree its maximum height is about twenty-
five feet. Branches spreading, or erect, or drooping. Ranges from
Greenland to Alaska, in the east southward to Pennsylvania and
northern Nebraska, in the Rocky Mountains to Texas, Mexico and
Arizona. Bark and fruit aromatic.

Bark. — Dark reddish brown, separating into loose papery scales.
Branchlets slender, smooth, lustrous, three-angled between the nodes,
at first pale reddish yellow growing gradually darker. By the third
year the bark begins to scale. ,-'

Buds. — Ovate, acute, one-eighth of an inch long, £bvered with
scale-like leaves.

Leaves. — Linear-lanceolate, free, jointed at the base, acute, rigid,
spreading nearly at right angles to the branches, sometimes reflexed,
tipped with sharp, rigid, cartilaginous points, verticillate in threes,
often with smaller ones fascicled in their channels. One-half to
three-fourths an inch long, channelled and hoary above, dark yellow
green and shining below ; persistent for many years. They have an
unpleasant slightly astringent flavor, and during winter turn a dark
bronze on lower surface.

Flowers. — April, May. Usually dioecious. From buds formed
in the autumn in the axils of leaves of the year. The staminate
flower consists of scales each bearing three stamens, verticillate on a
central axis ; anther-cells three or four. The pistillate, of numerous
scales each bearing three ovules, arranged on a central axis.

Fruit. — Berry-like strobile, maturing the second year. Dark
blue, glaucous, subglobose or oblong. Tipped with the remnants
of the ovules. One-fourth of an inch in diameter ; flesh soft, mealy,
resinous, aromatic, sweet, persists one or two years after ripening.

The common Juniper or Ground Cedar is a most interest-
ing plant. In the first place it is the most widely distributed
tree of the northern hemisphere, ranging around the earth on
the line of the arctic circle, .and in America southward to the
highlands of Pennsylvania in the east, and to northern Cali-
fornia in the west: It spreads over northern, central, and
eastern Asia, ranges to the Himalayas where it ascends 14,-
ooo feet above sea level. It is common throughout, northern

492

COMMON JUNIPER

Fruiting Branch of Common Juniper, Junipents comnnmis.

Berries }£' in diameter.

PINE FAMILY

and central Europe. In North America though not abundant
it is generally distributed. It is evidently one of those trees
which has been driven from the better lands by more power-
ful competitors, for in its temperate habitat it is found on
dry, sterile, gravelly slopes, or worn-out pastures or upon high
mountain-sides. Because of its enormous geographical range
it naturally varies greatly in form, changing from a tree
twenty-five feet high with a trunk ten inches in diameter to a
prostrate shrub. Its remains occur in the tertiary rocks of
Europe.

The Juniper may be readily recognized among evergreens,
by its awl-like leaves, arranged in whorls of threes, spread-
ing, sharp pointed, channelled and hoary above, shining
green below.

The fruit reaches maturity very slowly. The species is
dioecious and the flowers appear late in the spring. During
the first year the fruit does not enlarge, it looks during all
its first winter like a flower-bud, but at the blooming period
of the second year it feels the impulse of quickening life and
begins to grow, and by the second winter it has become a
hard, green, tiny sphere about three-quarters of its full size,
covered with white bloom. During the following season it
continues to develop and in early autumn becomes dark blue
or bluish black covered with a glaucous bloom, with soft,
mealy, aromatic flesh, and one to three seeds. This aromatic
fruit is gathered in large quantities and used in the manu-
facture of gin ; whose peculiar flavor and medicinal proper-
ties are due to the oil of Juniper berries, which is secured by
adding the crushed fruit to undistilled grain spirit, or by al-
lowing the spirit vapor to pass over it before condensation.
The seeds of the Juniper are almost as slow to germinate as
they were to mature, requiring two years. Thirteen varieties
of Juniperus communis are reported in the Check List of the
Forest Trees of the United States and several foreign species
are also in cultivation. All are tolerant of the knife, and it
affords gardeners much pleasure to make them assume pecul-
iar and fantastic shapes.

494

RED CEDAR

Fruiting Branch of Red Cedar, Juniperus vtrgim'ana. Leaves scale-like.

Berries ' to #' in diameter.

PINE FAMILY

RED CEDAR. SAVIN

Juniperus virgini&na.

Evergreen, varying from a shrub to a tree one hundred feet high,
which is conical when young but cylindrical or irregular in old age.
Ranges from Nova Scotia south to Florida, westward to British Co-
lumbia and east of the Rocky Mountains to Mexico. Tolerant of
many soils and varied locations. Roots fibrous.

Bark. — Light reddish brown, scaly or stringy. Branchlets slender
and four-angled but after the disappearance of the leaves become
terete and are covered with close, dark brown bark tinged with red
or gray.

Wood. — Bright red, fading with exposure to air. sapwood nearly
white ; fragrant, light, soft, close-grained, weak, durable in contact
with the soil. Largely used for posts, railway ties, interior finish of
houses, chests and closets in which woollens are preserved against
attack of moths, cabinet-making and lead pencils. Sp. gr., 0.4826;
weight of cu.- ft., 30.70 Ibs.

Leaves. — Opposite, of two kinds; awl-shaped and loose, scale-
shaped, appressed, imbricated, and crowded. The awl-shaped ap-
pear on young plants and vigorous branches, are linear-lanceolate,
long-pointed, light yellow green, one-half to three-fourths an inch
long. The scale-shaped are closely appressed, acute, occasionally
obtuse, rounded, often glandular in the back, entire, about one-six-
teenth of an inch long,- dark blue green, glaucous, turning brownish
during the winter at the north, beginning in the third season to grow
hard and woody and persisting two or three years longer on the
branches^ They are four-ranked, making the twig appear quad-
rangular.

Flowers. — April, May ; terminal on short axillary branches ; dioe-
cious rarely monoecious. Staminate flowers consist of four to six
shield -like scales each bearing about four or five yellow pollen sacs.
Pistillate flowers minute consisting of about three pairs of fleshy,
oblong; bluish scales, united at base, and bearing two ovules. Scales
are obliterated in the fruit.

Fruit. — Matures in first or second season. Berry-like strobile,
subglobose, one-third to one-fourth of an inch in diameter, pale
green covered with white bloom, when fully grown, dark blue and
glaucous at maturity ; flesh sweet, resinous ; seeds two to three.

The Red Cedar grows throughout the United States. It
reaches its largest size in the swamps and rich alluvial bot-
tom lands of the southern and southwestern states, but in the

496

RED CEDAR

Red Cedar, Juniperus virginiana. Leaves awl-shaped.

PINE FAMILY

northern states it grows abundantly on dry gravelly slopes
and rocky ridges.

A distinctive characteristic of the tree is the variation in the
form of its leaves. Variation of form occurs among the leaves
of the Sassafras and the Mulberry ; the Pitch Pine sometimes
bears two forms ; the Red Cedar does so habitually. These
are the awl-shaped and the scale-shaped. There seems to be
no law that determines their production except that the awl-
shaped always appear upon the young plants, but on mature
plants the different forms occur upon the same branchlet.
The awl-shaped are rigid, long-pointed, channelled and white
glaucous above, yellow green and convex below. They vary
in length from one-fourth to three-fourths of an inch. The
scale-shaped are minute, closely appressed, acute or obtuse,
and usually bear a glandular disk on the back. They are op-
posite but are so closely ranked that they make the leafy
twig appear quadrangular.

The wood of the Red Cedar is so valuable and has been
used so lavishly that it has become extremely expensive.
The present commercial supply is obtained chiefly from the
swamps near the western coast of Florida.

Few insects attack the Junipers, but they are the hosts of
numbers of very interesting fungi. These fungi belong to
the Rust family and are popularly known as Cedar Apples.
The common Cedar Apple, Gymnosporangium macropus, es-
pecially attacks the Red Cedar and forms tufts of bright yel-
low, jelly-like masses, from orifices in which long yellow
spurs protrude. These cling to the smaller twigs and are
frequently believed to be the flowers of the tree, or else an
astonishing kind of fruit. They will appear in a single night
during the rainy season ; and a Red Cedar covered with these
bright yellow masses of waving tongues is a remarkable
sight. When the weather becomes dry these gelatinous
masses contract and they are then seen to arise from the
changed tissue of very young twigs.

498

TAXACE^E— YEW FAMILY

GINKGO

Salisbhria adiantifblia. Ginkgo biloba.

The Ginkgo is a Chinese tree which came to England by
way of Japan and to the United States by way of England.
It is proving itself to be perfectly hardy and is planted in
greater numbers year by year.

That which astonishes the observer is the singular char-
acter of its leaves. There is nothing like them in the ar-
borescent foliage of either America or Europe. Appar-
ently they are fern leaves ; they so closely resemble the
leaves of the Maiden-hair fern, Adiantum, that one of the
specific names of the tree is adiantifolia. They are not
evergreen ; they turn yellow and drop in late autumn, in
that respect partaking of the character of the Larch and
the Bald Cypress.

The fruit is a drupe about an inch long, oval in shape, very
ill scented when ripe, and containing a nut which is high-
ly esteemed in Japan. This nut resembles a large plump
plum-stone. It is not palatable until roasted, but then it is
considered a digestive and is very generally served at ban-
quets.

The tree has been slow to fruit in this country, but it is
becoming apparent that the reason has been that few trees
have attained the requisite age. Trees thirty to forty years
old are beginning to fruit quite generally.

The young trees are tall, slender and spiry with a tendency

499

YEW FAMILY

in the branches to hug the stem. But after a time one
branch or perhaps two will grow out horizontally, the others
will loosen a little so that it becomes very evident that the
type of the mature tree is not the Lombardy Poplar, but
rather a spreading oak. The Ginkgo is said to attain enor-
mous proportions in its native land ; and if the climate
proves favorable it may become a valuable tree in the
United States.

500

GINKGO

Ginkgo. Ginkfo btloba.

FORM AND STRUCTURE

ROOTS, STEMS, LEAVES, FLOWERS, AND FRUIT

ROOTS.

THE root is that part of the plant axis which does not bear

leaves. Normally it grows downward, is fixed in the soil and

absorbs nourishment from the soil. True

roots produce nothing but root branches

and root hairs.

Roots differ from stems in the following

particulars. They are simpler in internal
structure, very irregular in
their mode of branching,
never directly bear leaves,
and their growing point is
placed just back of the tip
of the root. This tip is
covered with a protecting cap called the root-
cap and this may push its way without injury
to the growing point. The root-hairs are
found on the ultimate branches just back of
the growing point ; their function is to ab-
sorb nutriment from the soil. (Fig. i.)

When the main .root is simple or the
branches are small, it is called a tap root.
(Fig. 2.)
When the main root divides very soon and is lost in its

branches, the root is called fibrous.

FIG. i.— Showing Root-
cap and Root-hairs.

FIG. 2. — Tap Root.

FORM AND STRUCTURE

The roots of the deciduous trees of North America are
usually a modified form of the tap root, often a divided tap
root with fibrous rootlets.

STEM.

The stem is that part of the plant axis which bears the
leaves, flowers and fruit, and is the means of communication
between them and the root. The stem differs from the root
not only in that it is leaf-bearing but its branches are ar-
ranged regularly and the growing point is at the apex of the
branches. A stem increases in length by the growth of a
terminal bud and its branches normally originate from buds.

The points on the stem where the leaves appear are called
nodes.

The parts of the stem between the nodes are called inter-
nodes,

The angle formed by the upper side of a leaf and the stem
is called the axil.

LEAVES.

Leaves are stem-appendages and consist of expansions of
the stem tissues. Foliage leaves are usually flat, bi-laterally
symmetrical organs, green in color, and
presenting a distinct upper and under
surface. They are pre-eminently the
assimilating organs of the plant ; out
of the crude sap under the influence of
light and air they elaborate the plant
food.

A Typical Leaf consists of three
parts, the blade, the petiole, and the
stipules ; any one of these parts may
be wanting. (Fig. 3.)

The Blade is the expanded portion of
the leaf and the part to which the word
leaf is usually applied. The Petiole is
the leaf stalk. The Stipules are small
leaf-like bodies, borne at the base of the petiole, usually
one on each side. These are often united. Frequently

504

FIG. 3. — A Typical Leaf.

FORM AND STRUCTURE

they are wanting. The Sycamore and Black Willow afford
excellent examples of stipules.

ARRANGEMENT.

When leaves are distributed singly at different heights on
the stem, they are said to be alternate. When two stand op-
posite each other at the nodes, they are opposite. When
more than two are borne at a node in a circle around the
stem, they are whorled.

KINDS OF LEAVES.

Leaves are either simple or compound.

A Simple Leaf has but one blade. The leaves of the Elm
are simple. A Compound Leaf has more than one blade ;
each blade is then called a leaflet. The leaves of the Sumach
are pinnately compound ; the leaves of the Horse-chestnut
are palmately compound.

VERNATION OR PREFOLIATION.

In the study of the leaves of trees considerable attention
is given to the way the leaves are folded in the bud ; this is

FIG. 4.

FIG. 5.

FIG. 6.

FIG. 7.

FIG. 8.

FIG. 9.

called vernation. It may be studied from two points of
view ; how the leaves are arranged with reference to each
other, or how the individual leaf is folded.

5<>5

FORM AND STRUCTURE

The following are the common forms of folding of the in-
dividual leaf :

Inflexed, bent inward toward the base. (Fig. 4.)
Conduplicate, two sides applied to each other, face to face.

(Fig- 5-)

Plicate, when folded back and forth like the plaits of a fan.
(Fig. 6.)

Convolute, when rolled inward from one margin to the other.
(Fig. 7-)

Involute, rolled inward from each margin toward the midrib.
(Fig. 8.)

Revolute, rolled outward from each margin toward the mid-
rib. (Fig. 9.)

Botanically the inner surface of a leaf is that which in
ordinary description is called the upper surface.

VENATION.

The Venation of a leaf is the arrangement of the veins or
framework.

Three types are distinguished :

Forked-venation, seen in ferns.

Parallel-venation, seen in grasses and lilies.

Netted-venation, the form that prevails among deciduous
trees. In the Netted-venation the veins branch re-
peatedly and the veinlets run together end to end, form-
ing a more or less complicated network.
There are three modifications of this type :

Pinnate or Feather-veined, in which there is a midrib with
lateral branches called primary veins which run toward
the margin ; as in the leaves of the Elm, Beech, and
Chestnut.

Palmate-veined, in which there are several ribs radiating
from the petiole to the margin ; as in the leaves of the
Maple and. Sycamore.

Ribbed-netted-veined, in which there are several ribs run-
ning from petiole to apex with a network of small veins

between.

506

FORM AND STRUCTURE

FORMS OF LEAVES.

By General Outline we mean the outline form of the leaf,
disregarding marginal indentations and slight irregularities.

FIG. 10. FIG. n. FIG. 12.

FIG. 13.

FIG. 14.

FIG. 15.

FIG. 16.

FIG. 17

FIG. 19.

The principal forms found in the leaves of trees are the
following :

Needle-shaped, like the leaves of the Pine. (Fig. 10.)

Linear, a narrow elongated form. (Fig. n.)

Oblong, two or three times longer than wide with sides nearly

parallel. (Fig. 12.)
Elliptical, oblong with a flowing outline, the two ends alike in

width. (Fig. 13.)
Oval, broadly elliptical. (Fig. 14.)

Lanceolate, broader at base than apex, but narrow. (Fig. 15.)
Oblanceolate, the lanceolate reversed. (Fig. 16.)

507

FORM AND STRUCTURE

Ovate, shaped like the longitudinal section of a hen's egg.

(Fig. 17.)
Obovate, same form reversed, petiole at the smaller end.

(Fig. 18.)
Orbicular, nearly circular in outline. (Fig. 19.)

The names are frequently used together in order to de-
scribe a leaf accurately.

APEX.

The Apex is the point of the leaf opposite the petiole.
The following forms prevail in the leaves of deciduous trees:

Acute, an apex which forms an acute angle. (Fig. 20.)
Acuminate, taper or long pointed. (Fig. 21.)
Obtuse, rounded or blunt. (Fig. 22.)
Truncate, cut off or terminating abruptly. (Fig. 23.)

FIG. 20. FIG. 21. FIG. 22.

FIG. 23.

Emarginate, with the rounded summit slightly indented

forming a shallow notch. (Fig. 24.)

Mucronate, tipped with an abrupt short point. (Fig. 25.)
Bristle-pointed, tipped with a bristle. (Fig. 26.)

BASE.

The Base is the part of the leaf attached to the petiole or
stem. The following forms prevail in the leaves of deciduous
trees :

Rounded or Obtuse, as shown by the Black Cherry.
Cuneate or Wedge-shaped, as shown by the Papaw.
Cordate or Heart-shaped, as shown by the Balm of Gilead.
Oblique or unequal-sided, as shown by the Linden.

508

FORM AND STRUCTURE

MARGINAL INDENTATIONS.

A distinction is made between indentations that are shallow
and those that are deep. Of shallow indentations the fol-
lowing forms prevail in the leaves of deciduous trees :
Serrate, saw-toothed, with sharp teeth which incline toward

the apex ; distinguished as fine and coarse. (Fig. 27.)
Bi-serrate, doubly serrate, with two sets of teeth one upon

the other. (Fig. 28.)

FIGS. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34.

Dentate, toothed with outwardly projecting teeth ; distin-
guished as fine and coarse. (Fig. 29.)

Crenate, scalloped, the teeth broad and rounded. (Fig. 30.)
Undulate, when the margin forms a wavy line. (Fig. 31.)
Sinuate, deeply wavy. (Fig. 32.)

Repand, margin like that of an opened umbrella. (Fig. 33.)
Spinose, margin spiny. (Fig. 34.)

The common forms of deeply indented margins found in
the leaves of trees are Lobed and Cleft.

Lobed, when the indentations extend nearly half-way to the
midrib or base, and the segments or sinuses or both may
be either rounded or acute. The Oak and the Maple
leaves are examples.

Cleft, when the sinuses are deep, narrow, and acute,

509

FORM AND STRUCTURE

THE INDIVIDUAL FLOWER.

A complete flower consists of four sets of organs which
botanists regard as modified leaves. These are Calyx, Co-
rolla, Androecium the Stamens, and Gyncecium the pistils.
They are borne on a short axis called the receptacle.

(Fig. 35-)

The Calyx is the outer set. This is usually green though
sometimes it is colored. It may consist of a number of

separate parts called
Sepals ; these may be
more or less united.

The Corolla is the
second set. This is
usually colored. It may
consist of a number of
separate parts called
petals; these may be
more or less united.

The calyx and corolla
are called the floral
envelopes because they
surround and protect
the stamens and pistils,
which are the essential
organs of the flower.
They are called essen-
tial organs because to-
gether they produce
the seed.

The Stamens consti-
tute the third set. A

stamen consists of two parts, the filament and the anther.
The Filament is the anther stem. The Anther is the essen-
tial part and contains the Pollen which it discharges when
mature. When the filament is wanting the anther is said to
be sessile.

The Pistils are at the centre of the flower. It is not often

FIG. 35. Cherry Blossom, Shqwing Calyx (bud),
Corolla, Stamens, and Pistil.

510

FORM AND STRUCTURE

that a number of pistils are
found entirely separate ; as a
rule they grow together and the
parts unite or coalesce.

A single pistil consists of
ovary, style and stigma. The
Ovary is a hollow case which
contains the ovules ; the Stig-
ma is • the upper part, usually
flattened, which is covered by
an adhesive secretion and which receives the pollen ; the
Style connects the ovary and the stigma. It may be want-
ing, the stigma is then said to be sessile. (Fig. 36.)

The Ovules are tiny sac-like bodies which after they receive
the protoplasm of the pollen develop into seeds.

FIG. 36.— Half a Cherry Blossom Show-
ing Ovary, Style and Stigma.

INFLORESCENCE.

Inflorescence is a term used to denote the

arrangement of the flowers on the stem.

Flowers may occur singly or in clusters ;

they may be terminal or axillary.
Peduncle, is the stem of a solitary flower or

of a flower cluster.
Pedicel, is the individual stem of each flower

in a cluster.

Bract, is a small leaf found on a flower stem.
Involucre, is a collection of bracts around a

flower cluster or around a single flower.

FIG. 37. — Raceme of
Barberry Blossoms.

FLOWER CLUSTERS.

Raceme, is a cluster in which the flowers are
arranged along the central axis upon
pedicels nearly equal in length, those
nearest the base blooming first (Fig.
37). The central axis is called a rachis.
When the pedicels divide and subdivide
the raceme becomes a Panicle. When
a panicle stiffens and becomes rigid and

FORM AND STRUCTURE

FIG. 38.— A Corymb.

flowers are at the
centre, is called a
Cyme.

Umbel, resembles a ra-
ceme but the central
axis is very short
and the pedicels are
nearly equal in
length. (Fig. 39.)

Spike, is like a raceme
except that the flow-
ers are sessile ; they
sit directly on the
central axis.

Catkin or Ament, is like
a spike except that
its bracts are scales
and the central axis
is often drooping.
Flowers of Poplar
are examples.

erect it is called a
Thyrsus. Flowers
of Sourwood are
borne in a raceme.
Corymb, is like a raceme
except that the cen-
tral axis is shorter
and the lower ped-
icels are lengthened
so as to bring all
the flowers to near-
ly the same level.
The oldest flowers
are at the circum-
ference (Fig. 38.)
A flower cluster
similar in form, but
in which the oldest

— Umbel of Cherry Blossoms.

FORM AND STRUCTURE

Head, is like a spike except that the central axis is so short

that the flowers form a compact cluster.
Strobile, is a compact cluster with large scales concealing the

flowers.

-. FRUIT.

The Fruit consists essentially of the ripened pistil. After
the ovaries have been fertilized the ovary is called a Peri-
carp. The following kinds of fruits are those most frequently
borne by trees and are the products of a single flower :

Akene, is a one-seeded, dry, hard, seed-like fruit.

Samara, resembles an akene except that it has a wing-like
appendage. The Ash, the Elm and the Maple produce
samaras.

Glans or Nut, is a fruit with a thick hard pericarp, enclosed
more or less in an involucre. The acorn is a nut.

Drupe, is often called a stone fruit. In it the wall of the
pericarp is differentiated into three divisions — the outer
or skin called exocarp, middle or fleshy portion called
mesocarp, the inner wall enveloping the seed called endo-
carp. A cherry is a drupe.

Tryma, is a fruit structurally resembling the drupe, but the
mesocarp is harder, more fibrous, and the outer husk ulti-
mately splits open and comes off. A hickory nut is an
example.

Berry, has a thin rind and all the rest of the pericarp is suc-
culent. Berries may be one or many-celled. Grape and
currant are examples.

Pome, is a fleshy fruit, the chief bulk. of which consists of an
adherent fleshy calyx. The apple is a pome.

Legume, is a dry one-carpelled fruit or pod that splits open
front and back. The fruit of the Locust is a legume.

Capsule, consists of two or more united pistils which open
and allow the seeds to escape.

Fruits that are the product of one flower but of more than
one pistil are called Aggregated Fruits. Raspberry is an
example. Fruits that are the products of flower clusters
instead of single flowers are called Multiple Fruits.

FORM AND STRUCTURE

Sorosis, is a multiple fruit of which the mulberry is an ex-
ample.

Strobile or Cone, is a multiple fruit consisting of a scale-bear-
ing axis, each scale enclosing one or more seeds. Pine
cones are examples.

Galbulus, is a cone, the scales of which have become succu-
lent. The juniper berry is an example.

The Seed is the fertilized and ripened ovule. It contains the
embryo and usually more or less albumen. A well de-
veloped embryo possesses four parts : a tiny stem or
Caulicle, at the lower end of which is the beginning of a
root, called a Radicle; and Cotyledons, which are two
thickened bodies near the upper end of the caulicle, and
between these is a small bud called a Plumule. These
parts can be readily seen in the sprouting bean or pea.
Some plants produce seeds bearing one cotyledon only ;
such are called Monocotyledones. Others bear two co-
tyledons, they are called Dicotyledones.

THE TREE STEM OR TRUNK.

Stems are of two kinds, Endogenous and Exogenous, so
named from the character of their growth. In an endogenous
stem the wood is made up of separate threads scattered, here
and there, throughout the whole diameter of the stem. In
an exogenous stem the wood is collected to form a layer sur-
rounding a central column of pith and is itself surrounded by
bark.

A transverse section of a small twig of a tree shows the
pith in the centre, around it a zone of wood, then a green
inner bark, and finally the outer bark. All parts, except
possibly the outer bark, are alive.

A transverse section of a mature tree exhibits a centre of
heartwood or Duramen and a zone of sap wood or Alburnum,
an inner bark and an outer bark. In addition are seen a
series of concentric rings known as rings of annual growth,
also a number of lines radiating from centre to circumference
called Medullary Rays. The pith has disappeared but the
medullary rays are composed of pith tissue and form a set

FORM AND STRUCTURE

Transverse Section of Trunk, of White Oak, Quercus alba, Showing Bark,
Sapwood, Heartwood, Annual Rings and Medullary Rays.

FORM AND STRUCTURE

of narrow plates which make the " silver grain " of the
wood.

In the transverse section these appear as lines but when
the wood is cut lengthwise parallel to them, "quartered,"
their faces show as glimmering plates which give a peculiar
and beautiful appearance to the wood. Trees differ in the
size and number of their medullary rays.

Each of the rings is supposed to mark a year's growth of
the tree ; as a matter of fact it may or may not do so, but
the number of concentric rings will give the approximate
age of the tree.

The heartwood is the more valuable part of the trunk for
timber. It is drier, harder, and more solid than the sapwood.
The cells have been so filled by the deposition of hard mat-
ter that they are no longer able to take any part in the cir-
culation of the tree ; the protoplasm has receded from them
and they are virtually dead.

The zone of sapwood is a zone of living tissue. But the
impulse of life is ever leaving the old and entering the new,
and the cells of its inner circumference are continually being
transformed into heartwood, and those of its outer circum-
ference increased by new growth.

Between the sapwood and the bark, united to each, is a
zone of growth called the Cambium Layer. This is a tissue
of young and growing cells and it is here that the tree in-
creases in diameter. Here is the newest wood and the new-
est bark, here new cells are formed, the inner ones adding
to the wood, the outer to the bark, producing the annual,
layers of the two which are ever renewing and continuing the
life of the tree.

The Bark is the outer covering of the trunk. At the sur-
face it is made up of dead and dying tissue which is stretched
and torn and shed in plates or scales as the wood beneath it
increases in size and requires room to expand. The inner
bark consists essentially of sieve-tissue or bast and forms a
zone capable of rapidly conducting the fluids of the tree.

In all young bark is found a peculiar group of cells, called
Lenticels, which protrude through the skin or epidermis. In
some trees these lenticels disappear when the bark becomes

5-0

FORM AND STRUCTURE

older, in others they persist. The best opinion now is that
they are openings for the purpose of admitting air to the
living internal tissues.

SPECIES AND GENUS.

Under the term Species are included all individuals which
possess in common such a number of constant characters that
they may be considered to be descended from a common an-
cestral form. In the course of multiplication new peculiari-
ties may arise and individuals characterized by these peculi-
arities are regarded in classification as Varieties.

When several species resemble each other so distinctly
that their general characters indicate relationship they are
grouped together in a Genus. Genera are not fixed, they
vary with the views of botanists.

The Scientific Name of a plant consists of two words, the
first indicating the genus, the second the species. If a third
is added it indicates the variety.

GLOSSARY OF BOTANICAL TERMS.

ABNORMAL. — Differing from the usual structure.

ABORTION. — Imperfect development or non-development of an organ.

ABORTIVE. — Imperfectly developed or rudimentary.

ACUMINATE. — Tapering at the end.

ACUTE. — Forming a sharp angle.

ADHESION. — The union of members of different floral whorls.

ADNATE. — Grown together.

ADVENTITIOUS. — Occurring out of the regular order.

^ESTIVATION. — The arrangement of floral organs in the bud.

AKENE. — A small, dry, hard, one-celled, one-seeded, indehiscent fruit.

ALBUMEN. — A name applied to the food store laid up outside the embryo in

many seeds ; also nitrogenous organic matter found in animals and

plants.

ALBURNUM. — Sap wood.
ALTERNATE. — Applied to that form of leaf arrangement in which only one

leaf occurs at a node.
AMENT. — A scaly spike or catkin.

ANGIOSPERMS. — Those plants which bear their seeds within a pericarp.
ANTHER. — That part of the stamen which bears the pollen.
APETALGUS. — Having no petals.
APPRESSED. — Lying close and flat against.
ARBORESCENT. — A tree in size and habit of growth.
ARIL. — The exterior coat of some seeds.

AWL-SHAPED. — Narrowed upward from the base to a slender or rigid point.
AXIL. — The upper one of the two angles formed by the juncture of the leaf

with the stem.

AXILLARY. — Situated in an axil.

BAST. — A name applied to the inner layer of the bark.
BEAKED. — Ending in a prolonged tip.
BERRY.— A fruit whose entire pericarp is succulent.
BI-PINNATE. — Applied to a leaf which is twice compounded on the pinnate

plan.

BRACTLETS. — The smaller bracts borne on pedicels.
BRACTS. — The modified leaves borne on flower peduncles or at the base of

flower stems.

5'9

GLOSSARY OF BOTANICAL TERMS

CADUCOUS. — Applied to the calyx of a flower when it falls off before the
flower expands; also to the stipules of a leaf if they fall as the leaf
appears.

CALYX. — The outer whorl of floral envelopes.

CAMPANULATE. — Bell-shaped.

CAPSULE. — A dry, usually dehiscent fruit, made up of two or more carpels.

CARPEL. — A simple pistil, or one member of a compound pistil.

CATKIN. — An ament.

CELLULOSE. — A primary cell-wall substance.

CHLOROPHYLL. — The green grains in the cells of plants.

CLAW. — The stalk or contracted base of a petal.

COHESION. — The union of members of the same floral whorl.

CONDUPLICATE. — Doubled together. The vernation of a leaf is condupli-
cate when the two sides are folded together lengthwise, face to face.

CONNATE. — Grown together.

CONNECTIVE. — That portion of the anther which connects the two lobes.

CONTORTED. — Twisted together.

CONVOLUTE. — Rolled up ; applied to leaves that are rolled from one
edge.

CORDATE. — Heart-shaped; applied to a leaf which has a deeply indented
base.

CORIACEOUS.— Thickish and leathery in texture.

COROLLA. — The inner whorl of floral envelopes.

CORYMB. — A flower cluster in which the axis is shortened and the pedicels of
the lower flowers lengthened, so as to form a flat-topped cluster.

CORYMBOSE. — Like a corymb.

COTYLEDON. — One of the parts of the embryo performing in part the func-
tions of a leaf, but usually serving as a storehouse of food for the de-
veloping plant.

CRENATE. — Scalloped.

CRENULATE. — Finely crenate.

CROSS-FERTILIZATION. — When the stigma of one flower receives the pollen
of a different flower.

CRUCIFORM. — Applied to corollas of four distinct petals arranged in form
of a cross.

CUSPIDATE. — Tipped with a sharp and rigid point.

CYME. — A broad and flattish inflorescence with the central or terminal flowers
blooming earliest.

DECIDUOUS. — Not persistent; applied to leaves that fall in autumn and to
calyx and corolla when they fall off before the fruit develops.

DECURRENT. — Applied to leaves which are prolonged down the side of the
petiole.

DEFINITE. — Limited or denned.

DEHISCENCE. — The act of splitting open.

DELTOID. — Triangular, somewhat like the Greek letter delta.

520

GLOSSARY OF BOTANICAL TERMS

DENTATE. — Applied to leaves that have their margins toothed, with the teeth
directed outward.

DIADELPHOUS. — In two brotherhoods. Applied to stamens when cohering
by their filaments into two sets.

DICHOTOMOUS. — Forking; dividing into two equal branches.

DICOTYLEDON. — A plant whose embryo has two opposite cotyledons.

DIFFUSE. — Widely spreading.

DIGITATE. — Applied to a compound leaf in which all the leaflets radiate from
the top of the petiole.

DICECIOUS. — In two households. With staminate and pistillate flowers sep-
arate and on separate plants.

DISCOID. — Having the form of a disc. Descriptive of the shapes of certain
stigmas, glands, etc.

DISK. — A development of the receptacle at or around the base of the pistil.

DISSEPIMENT.— A partition in a fruit.

DRUPE. — A fleshy or pulpy fruit with the inner portion of the pericarp hard
or stony. A stone fruit.

DURAMEN.— Heartwood.

ECHINATE. — Beset with prickles.

EMARGINATE.— Notched. Applied to a leaf which is notched at the apex.

EMBRYO. — Applied in botany to the tiny plant within the seed.

ENDOCARP. — The inner layer of the pericarp.

EPICARP. — The outer layer of the pericarp.

EPIGYNOUS. — Growing on the summit of the ovary, or apparently so.

EROSE. — Irregularly toothed, as if gnawed.

ET^RIO. — A fruit, the product of a single flower, which consists of small
aggregated drupes.

EXOCARP. — The outer layer of the pericarp.

EXSERTED. — Protruding ; as stamens extending beyond the throat of a
corolla.

EXTRORSE. — Facing outward. Applied to anthers which face away from
the pistil.

FALCATE. — Curved or sickle-shaped.

FASCICLE. — A bundle. Applied to a compact cyme or a compact cluster of
leaves.

FERTILIZATION. — The union which takes place when the contents of the pol-
len cell enters the ovule.

FIBRO-VASCULAR BUNDLES. — The bundles of vascular tissues of plants.

FILAMENT. — The stalk which supports the anther.

FILIFORM. — Thread-like.

FOLIACEOUS. — Leaf-like. -

FUGACIOUS. — Soon falling off.

GALBULUS. — A berry-like cone, as the fruit of the Juniper.

GAMOPETALOUS. — Having the petals more or less united.

GAMOSEPALOUS. — Having the sepals more or less united.

GLOSSARY OF BOTANICAL TERMS

GERMINATION. — The sprouting of a seed.

GIBBOUS. — Swollen on one side.

GLABROUS. — Smooth ; destitute of hairs.

GLANDS. — A secreting surface or structure ; a protuberance having the ap-
pearance of such an organ.

GLANS. — A nut.

GLAUCOUS. — Covered or whitened with a bloom.

GLOBOSE. — Spherical or nearly so.

GYMNOSPERMS. — Plants bearing naked seeds; without an ovary.

GYNCECIUM. — The pistils of a flower taken as a whole.

HABITAT. — The geographical range of a plant.

HEAD. — A compact cluster of nearly sessile flowers.

HILUM. — The point of attachment of an ovule or seed.

HISPID. — Bristly.

HYBRID. — A cross between two species.

HYPOGYNOUS. — Situated on the receptacle, beneath the ovary and free from
it and from the calyx. Applied to petals and stamens.

IMBRICATE. — Overlapping.

INCISED. — Cut sharply and deeply.

INCLUDED. — Applied to stamens or pistils that do not project beyond the
corolla.

INDEFINITE. — Applied to petals or other organs when too numerous to be
conveniently counted.

INDEHISCENT. — Not splitting open.

INDIGENOUS. — Native to the country.

INFERIOR. — Applied to an ovary which has an adherent calyx.

INFLORESCENCE. — The flowering part of a plant.

INNATE. — Applied to anthers which are attached by their base to the apex of
the filament.

INSERTED. — Attached to or growing out of.

INTERNODE. — The portion of a stem between two nodes.

INTRORSE. — Facing inward ; applied to stamens that face toward the
pistil.

INVOLUCEL. — A secondary involucre.

INVOLUCRE. — A collection of bracts at the base of a flower cluster or of a sin-
gle flower.

INVOLUTE. — A form of vernation in which the leaf is rolled inward from its
edges.

LANCEOLATE. — Applied to leaves which are slender, broadest near the
base and narrowed to the apex.

LEAFLET. — A single division of a compound leaf.

LEGUME. — A fruit formed of a simple pistil and usually splitting open* by
both sutures.

LENTICELS. — Small oval dots which appear upon the branches.

LIBER. — The inner layer of the bark.

522

GLOSSARY OF BOTANICAL TERMS

LIGNEOUS. — Woody.

LIMB. — The spreading portion of a gamophyllus calyx or corolla.

LINEAR. — Applied to an organ with parallel margins that is many times
longer than broad.

LOBE. — Any segment of an organ.

LOCULICI DALLY. — Dehiscent through the back of a cell of a capsule.

MEDULLA. — The pith.

MEDULLARY RAYS. — Rays of fundamental tissue which connect the pith with
the bark.

MEMBRANOUS, MEMBRANACEOUS. — Thin and rather soft, more or less trans-
lucent.

MESOCARP. — The middle layer of the pericarp.

METABOLISM. — The oxydizing processes that go on in the living plant.

MIDRIB. — The central or main rib of a leaf.

MONADELPHOUS. — In one brotherhood. Applied to stamens which are
united by their filaments into one set.

MONOCOTYLEDONOUS. — Possessing but one cotyledon or seed leaf.

MONCECIOUS. — In one household. Applied to plants which have separate
staminate and pistillate flowers, but both borne on the same plant.

MUCRONATE. — Tipped with a small soft point.

MULTIPLE FRUIT. — A fruit composed of numerous small fruits, each the
product of a separate flower ; ex. mulberry.

NECTARY. — The honey gland or honey repository of a flower.

NERVED. — Veined.

NODE. — The point on a stem of a plant from which the leaf develops.

OBCONIC. — Conic with the point of attachment at the apex.

OBCORDATE. — Inversely heart-shaped.

OBLANCEOLATE. — Inversely lanceolate.

OBLONG. — Considerably longer than broad, with flowing outline.

OBTUSE. — Blunt, rounded.

OVAL. — Broadly elliptical.

OVARY. — The part of the pistil that contains the ovules.

OVOID. — Egg-shaped. Applied to solid bodies.

OVULE. — The rudimentary seed.

PANICLE. — A compound raceme.

PAPILIONACEOUS. — A term descriptive of such flowers as those of the Pea.

PARTED. — Cleft nearly but not quite to the base or midrib.

PEDICEL. — The stem of an individual flower of a cluster.

PEDUNCLE. — A flower stalk.

PERFECT. — Applied to a flower which has both pistil and stamens.

PERIANTH. — A term applied to the floral envelopes taken as a whole.

PERICARP. — The walls of the ripened ovary, the part of the fruit that en-
closes the seeds.

PERIGYNOUS. — Borne around the pistil instead of at its base.- Applied to
stamens and petals borne on the throat of the calyx.

523

GLOSSARY OF BOTANICAL TERMS

PERSISTENT. — Long continuous, applied to leaves that remain on the tree

over winter and to a calyx that remains until the fruit ripens.
PETAL. — One of the leaves of the corolla.
PETIOLE. — The stem of a leaf.
PINNA (pi. pinnae). — One of the primary divisions of a pinnately compound

leaf.
PINNATE. — Applied to compound leaves where the leaflets are arranged on

each side of a common petiole.

PISTIL. — The modified leaf or leaves which bear the ovules ; usually con-
sisting of ovary, style and stigma.

PISTILLATE. — Applied to flowers that possess pistils but not stamens.
PLICATE. — Folded like a fan.
PLUMULE. — The primary bud of the embryo.
POLLEN. — The fertilizing powder produced by the anther.
POLYGAMOUS. — Applied to plants which produce staminate, pistillate, and

perfect flowers all on the same plant.
PROTOPLASM. — The living matter of the cell.
PUBESCENT. — Downy, covered with soft hairs.
RACEME. — A simple inflorescence of pedicelled flowers upon a common, more

or less, elongated axis.
RACHIS. — The axis of inflorescence.
RADICLE. — The primary root of the embryo.

RECEPTACLE. — The shortened stem on which the floral organs are inserted.
REDUPLICATE. — Doubled back.
REFLEXED. — Bent outward.

REPAND. — Leaf margin toothed like the margin of an umbrella.
REVOLUTE. — Rolled backward.
ROTATE. — Flat circular disk; applied to corollas.

SAMARA. — An indehiscent dry fruit provided with a wing-like appendage.
SECUND. — Flowers arranged along one side of a lengthened axis.
SEPAL. — One of the leaves of the outer whorl of floral organs.
SERRATE. — Toothed, with sharp teeth projecting forward.
SINUATE. — Wavy.

SINUS. — The cleft between two lobes.
SPATULATE. — Resembling a spatula in outline.
SPIKE. — A form of simple inflorescence in which the flowers are sessile or

nearly so, borne upon a lengthened axis. The lower flowers bloom

first.

SPRAY. — The ultimate division of a branch.
STAMEN. — The pollen-bearing organ of the flower, usually consisting of

filament and anther.

STAMINATE. — Applied to flowers which have stamens but not pistils.
STERIGMA. PI. Sterigmara. — The woody base upon which the leaves of

many of the evergreens are borne.
STIGMA. — That part of the pistil which receives the pollen.

524

GLOSSARY OF BOTANICAL TERMS

STIPE. — The stalk possessed by some pistils.

STIPULE. — One of the blade-like bodies at the base of the petiole of leaves.

STOMA, pi. Stomata. — A breathing pore found in the epidermis of the

higher plants.
STROBILE. — A compact flower cluster with large scales concealing the

flowers. When this cluster matures and contains seeds it is still called

a strobile.

STYLE. — That part of the pistil which connects the ovary with the stigma.
SUPERIOR. — Applied to an ovary that is not at all adherent to the calyx.
SYNCARP. — A multiple fruit.

TAPROOT. — The main root or downward continuation of the plant axis.
TERETE. — Nearly cylindrical.
TERMINAL. — Placed at the end.
THYRSE or THYRSUS. — A compact panicle.

TOMENTOSE. — Applied to surfaces which are covered with matted hairs.
TOMENTUM. — Matted hairs.
TORUS. — Another name for receptacle.
TRUNCATE. — Ending abruptly as if cut off.
TRYMA. — A drupe-like fruit which is commonly two-celled, has a bony

nucleus and thick, fibrous epicarp.
TURBINATE. — Top-shaped.
UMBEL. — A flower cluster in which the axis is very short and the pedicels

radiate from it.
UNDULATE. — Wavy.

VALVATE. — Meeting by the edges without overlapping.
VASCULAR. — Possessing vessels or ducts.
VEIN. — Thread of fibro- vascular tissue in a leaf.
VEIN LET. — Small vein.

VENATION. — The system of veins as that of a leaf.
VERNATION. — The arrangement of the leaves in the bud.
VERSATILE. — Applied to an anther that turns freely on its support.
VILLOUS. — Covered with long, soft, shaggy hairs.
WHORL. — An arrangement of organs in a circle about a central axis. .

INDEX OF LATIN NAMES

ABIES balsamea, 480
Acer barbatum, 66
Acer dasycarpum, 73
Acer negando, 85
Acer pennsylvanicum, 60
Acer platanoides, 82
Acer pseudo-platanus, 82
Acer rubrum, 77
Acer saccharinum, 73
Acer saccharum, 66
Acer saccharum nigrum, 66
Acer spicatum, 64
Aceraceae, 60
./Esculus glabra, 50
^Lsculus hippocastanum, 54
i^Esculus octandra, 54
yEsculus pavia, 59
^Esculus rubicunda, 59
Ailanthus glandulosa, 36
Alnus glutinosa, 314
Amelanchier alnifolia, 154
Amelanchier canadensis, 153
Anacardiaceas, 88
Annonaceae, 20
Aquifoliaceae, 41
Aralia spinosa, 165
Araliaceae, 165
Asimina triloba, 20

BETULA, 295
Betula alba, 300
Betula lenta, 311
Betula lutea, 310
Betula nigra, 306
Betula papyrifera, 302
Betula populifolia, 297
Betulaceae, 295
Bignoniaceae, 225

CAPRIFOLIACEJE, 181
Carpinus caroliniana, 319

Carya alba, 282
Carya amara, 279
Carya microcarpa, 290
Carya porcina, 290
Carya tomentosa, 286
Castanea dentata, 386
Castanea pumila, 392
Castanea vesca, 386
Catalpa bignonioides, 225
Catalpa catalpa, 225
Catalpa speciosa, 228
Celastraceae, 46
Celtis occidentalis, 249
Cercis canadensis, 104
Chamascyparis sphaeroidea, 489
Chionanthus virginica, 222
Cladastris lutea, 116
Coniferae, 439
Cornaceae, 169
Cornus alternifolia, 175
Cornus florida, 169
Cotinus cotinoides, 92
Crataegus coccinea, 143
Crataegus crus-galli, 140
Cratasgus mollis, 144
Crataegus oxyacantha, 142
Cratasgus punctata, 150
Crataegus tomentosa, 148
Cupressus thyoides, 489
Cupuliferae, 323

DlCOTYLEDONES, I

Diospyros kaki, 198
Diospyros virginiana, 195

EBENACE^E, 195
Ericaceae, 186

Euonymus atropurpureus, 46
Evonymus atropurpureus, 46

FAGACE.E, 378

Fagus atropunicea, 378

527

INDEX OF LATIN NAMES

Fagus ferruginea, 378
Fraxinus americana, 206
Fraxinus lanceolata, 214
Fraxinus nigra, 218
Fraxinus pennsylvanica, 212
Fraxinus pubescens, 212
Fraxinus quadrangulata, 214
Fraxinus sambucifolia, 218

GlNKGO BILOBA, 499

Gleditsia triacanthos, 112
Gymnocladus dioicus, 109

HALESIA TETRAPTERA, 200
Hamamelidaceag, 157
Hamamelis virginiana, 157
Hicoria alba, 286
Hicoria glabra, 290
Hicoria laciniosa, 286
Hicoria minima, 279
Hicoria ovata, 282
Hippocastanaceae, 50

ILEX MONTICOLA, 45
Ilex opaca, 41

JUGLANDACE^E, 269

Juglans cinerea, 274
Juglans nigra, 269
Juglans regia, 272
Juniperus communis, 492
Juniperus virginiana, 496

KALMIA ANGUSTIFOLIA, 189
Kalmia latifolia, 186

LARIX AMERICANA, 476

Larix europaea, 480
Larix laricina, 476
Lauraceae, 229
Leguminosae, 97
Liquidambar styraciflua, 160
Liriodendron tulipifera, 14

MACLURA AURANTIACA, 258
Magnolia acuminata, 9
Magnolia glauca, 3
Magnolia tripetala, 5
Magnoliaceae, 3
Mohrodendron carolinum, 200
Mohrodendron dipterum, 202
Moraceae, 2^3

Morus alba, 258
Morus nigra, 254
Morus rubra, 253

NEGUNDO ACEROIDES, 85
Nyssa sylvatica, 177

OLEACE^E, 206
Ostrya virginiana, ^316
Oxydendrum arboreum, 192

PlCEA ALBA, 464

Picea canadensis, 464

Picea excelsa, 473

Picea mariana, 470

Picea nigra, 470

Picea rubens, 468

Pinaceae, 439

Pinus, 440

Pinus divaricata, 460

Pinus echinata, 458

Pinus laricio austriaca, 462

Pinus palustris, 44 j

Pinus resinosa, 450

Pinus rigida, 454

Pinus strobus, 443

Pinus sylvestris, 464

Pinus taeda, 452

Pinus virginiana, 456

Platanaceae, 263

Platanus occidentalis, 263

Populus, 410

Populus alba, 428

Populus angulata, 426

Populus balsamifera, 422

Populus balsamifera candicans. 424

Populus deltoides, 426

Populus grandidentata, 418

Populus heterophylla, 419

Populus monilifera, 426

Populus nigra italica, 432

Populus tremuloides, 413

Prunus americana, 120

Prunus caroliniana, 132

Prunus nigra, 119

Prunus pennsylvanica, 123

Prunus serotina, 128

Prunus virginiana, 125

Ptelea trifoliata, 32

Pyrus americana, 136

Pyrus aucuparia, 138

538

INDEX OF LATIN NAMES

Pyrus coronaria, 133
Pyrus sambuci folia, 140

QUERCUS, 323
Quercus acuminata, 342
Quercus alba, 328
Quercus bicolor, 346
Quercus coccinea, 354
Quercus digitata, ^62
Quercus ilicifolia, 366
Quercus imbricaria, 372
Quercus macrocarpa, 335
Quercus marilandica, 370
Quercus minor, 332
Quercus nigra, 370
Quercus palustris, 365
Quercus phellos 375
Quercus platanoides, 346
Quercus prinoides, 344
Quercus prinus, 338
Quercus pumila, 366
Quercus rubra, 349
Quercus tinctoria, 357
Quercus velutina, 357

RHAMNACE.E, 49

Rhamnus caroliniana, 49

Rhododendron maximum, 189

Rhus copallina, 91

Rhus coriaria, 92

Rhus glabra, 91

Rhus hirta, 88

Rhus typhina, 88

Rhus venenata, 94

Rhus vernix, 94

Robinia pseudacacia, 97

Robinia viscosa, 103

Rosaceae, 119

Rutaceae, 32

SALICACE^:, 393
Salisburia adiantifolia, 499
Salix alba, 405
Salix amygdaloides, 398
Salix babylonica, 409
Salix bebbiana, 401
Salix caerulea, 405
Salix discolor, 403
Salix fluviatalis, 400
Salix fragilis, 405
Salix lucida, 398
Salix nigra, 395
Salix rostrata, 401
Salix vitellina, 405
Sassafras sassafras, 229
Simaroubaceas, 36
Styracaceae, 200

TAXACE^E, 499
Taxodium distichum, 484
Thuja occidentalis, 486
Tilia americana, 24
Tilia europaea, 30
Tilia heterophylla, 30
Tilia pubescens, 30
Tiliaceae, 24
Toxylon pomiferum, 258
Tsuga canadensis, 474

ULMACEJE, 233
Ulmus alata, 246
Ulmus americana, 233
Ulmus campestris, 248
Ulmus fulva, 240
Ulmus pubescens, 240
Ulmus racemosa, 242

VIBURNUM LENTAGO, 181
Viburnum prunifolium, 184

529

INDEX OF COMMON NAMES

ABELE-TREE, 428
Acacia, 97
Ailanthus, 36
Alder, 314
Alligator-wood, 164
Almond leaf Willow, 398
Alternate-leaved Dogwood. 175
American Elm, 233
Angelica-tree, 165
Arborvitae, 486
Ash-leaved Maple, 85
Aspen, 413

Aspen-leaved Birch, 297
Austrian Pine, 462

BALD CYPRESS, 484
Balm of Gilead, 422
Balsam, 422
Balsam Fir, 480
Barren Oak, 370
Basswood, 24
Bear Oak, 366
Beaver-wood, 5
Bebb Willow, 401
Beech Family, 378
Big Bud Hickory, 286
Big Shellbark, 286
Bignonia Family, 225
Birch Family, 295
Bird Cherry, 122
Bitternut, 279
Black Ash, 218
Black Birch, 311
Black Cherry, 128
Black Cottonwood, 419
Black Haw, 184
Black jack, 370
Black Maple, 66

Black Mulberry, 254
Black Oak, 357
Black Poplar, 410
Black Spruce, 470
Black Thorn, 148
Black Walnut, 269
Black Willow, 395
Blue Ash, 214
Blue Beech, 319
Blue Willow, 405
Box Elder, 85
Buckeye, 50
Buckthorn Family, 49
Bur Oak, 335
Burning Bush, 46
Butternut, 274
Buttonwood, 263

CANADA BALSAM, 482
Canada Plum, 119
Canadian Pine, 450
Canoe Birch, 302
Canoe-wood, 16
Carolina Poplar, 428
Cat alp a, 225
Chestnut, 386
Chestnut Oak, 338-342
Chicot, no
Chinquapin, 342-392
Chinquapin Oak, 344
Choke Cherry, 125
Clammy Locust, 103
Cockspur Thorn, 140
Conifer, 439
Copper Beech, 383
Cork Elm, 242
Cottonwood, 426
Crab Apple, 133

530

INDEX OF COMMON NAMES

Crack Willow, 405
Cucumber-tree, 9
Custard Apple Family, 20

DECIDUOUS CYPRESS, 484
Dogwood Family, 169
Dotted Haw, 150
Downy Linden, 30
Downy Poplar, 419
Dwarf Sumach, 91

EBONY FAMILY, 195
Elm Family, 233
English Elm, 248
European Larch, 480
European Mountain Ash, 138

FETID BUCKEYE, 50
Flowering Dogwood, 169
Fragrant Crab, 133
Fringe-tree, 222

GiNKGO, 499

Ginseng Family, 165
Glaucous Willow, 403
Gray Birch, 297-310
Gray Pine, 460
Great Laurel, 189
Green Ash, 214
Ground Cedar, 492

HACKBERRY, 249
Hacmatack, 476
Hawthorn, 144-148
Hemlock, 474
Hercules' Club, 165
Hickory, 276
Holly, 41

Honey Locust, 112
Honey Shucks, 112
Honeysuckle Family, 181
Hop Hornbeam, 316
Hop-tree, 32
Hornbeam. 319
Horse-chestnut, 54
Horse-chestnut Family, 50

INDIAN BEAN, 225

Indian Cherry, 49
Ironwood, 316

JACK PINE, 460
Jersey Pine, 456
Judas-tree, 104
June-berry, 153
Juniper, 492

KALMIA, 186

Kentucky Coffee-tree, 109

LAMBKILL, 189
Larch, 480

Large-toothed Aspen, 417
Laurel Family, 229
Laurel Oak, 372
Lime-tree, 24
Linden, 24
Liquidamber, 160
Loblolly Pine, 452
Locust, 97

Lombardy Poplar, 432
Longleaf Willow, 400

MAGNOLIA FAMILY, 3
Mahogany Birch, 311
Maple Family, 60
Mockernut, 286
Moosewood, 60
Mossy-cup Oak, 335
Mountain Ash, 136
Mountain Holly, 45
Mountain Laurel, 186
Mountain Maple, 64
Mountain Sumach, 91
Mountain Magnolia, 9
Mulberry Family, 253

NETTLE TREE, 249
Newcastle Thorn, 140
Norway Maple, 82
Norway Pine, 450
Norway Spruce, 475

OAK FAMILY, 323
Ohio Buckeye, 50
Old Field Birch, 300
Old Field Pine, 452
Olive Family, 206
Osage Orange, 258

PAP AW, 20
Paper Birch, 302

531

INDEX OF COMMON NAMES

Pea Family, 97
Peach Willow, 398
Pepperidge, 177
Persimmon, 195
Pignut, 290
Pin Oak, 365
Pine, 440
Pitch Pine, 454
Plane Tree Family, 263
Poison Dogwood, 94
Poison Sumach, 94
Poplar, 410
Post Oak, 332
Pussy Willow, 403

QUAKING ASP, 413

RED ASH, 212

Red Birch, 306

Redbud, 104

Red Cedar, 496

Red Elm, 240

Red Horse-chestnut, 59

Red Maple, 77

Red Mulberry, 253 .

Red Oak, 349

Red Pine, 454

Red Plum, 119

Red Spruce, 468

Rhododendron, 189

River Birch, 306

Roan-tree, 138

Rock Chestnut Oak, 338

Rock Elm, 242

Rock Maple, 66

Rose Bay, 189

Rose Family, 119

Rowan-tree, 138

Rue Family, 32

SANDBAR WILLOW, 400
Sassafras, 229
Savin, 496

Scarlet-fruited Thorn, 143
Scarlet Haw, 143-144
Scarlet Oak, 354
Scotch Fir, 464
Scotch Pine, 464
Scrub Chestnut Oak, 344
Scrub Oak, 366
Scrub Pine, 456-460

Service-berry, 153
Shad Bush, 153
Shagbark, 282
Sheepberry, 181
Shellbark Hickory, 282
Shingle Oak, 372
Shining Willow, 398
Short leaf Pine, 458
Silverbell-tree, 200
Silver Maple, 73
Slippery Elm, 240
Small-leaved Basswood, 30
Small Magnolia, 3
Smoke-tree, 92
Smooth Sumach, 91
Snowdrop-tree, 202
Soft Maple, 73-77
Sorrel-tree, 192
Sour Gum, 177
Sourwood, 192
Spanish Oak, 362
Spindle-tree, 46
Spruce Pine, 458
Stag Bush, 184
Staghorn Sumach, 88
Storax Family, 200
Striped Maple, 60
Stump-tree, 109
Sugarberry, 249
Sugar Maple, 66
Sumach Family, 88
Swamp Cottonwood, 419
Swamp Hickory, 279
Swamp Magnolia, 3
Swamp Maple, 77
Swamp Spanish Oak, 365
Swamp White Oak, 346
Sweet Bay, 3
Sweet Birch, 311
Sweet Buckeye, 54
Sweet Gum, 160
Sweet Viburnum, 181
Sycamore, 263
Sycamore Maple, 82

TACMAHAC, 422
Tamarack, 476
Torch Pine, 454
Tree of Heaven, 36
Tulip-tree, 14
Tupelo, 177

532

INDEX OF COMMON NAMES

UMBRELLA-TREE, 5

VELVET SUMACH, 88
Virgilia, 116

WAAHOO, 46
Wafer Ash, 32
Wahoo, 246
Walnut Family, 269
Water Elm, 233
Weeping Willow, 409
Weymouth Pine, 443
White Ash, 206
White Basswood, 30
White Birch, 297-302
White Cedar, 486-489
White Elm, 233
White Maple, 73
White Mulberry, 258
White Oak, 328
White Pine, 443
White Poplar, 428

White Spruce, 464
White Thorn, 143
White Walnut, 274
White Willow, 405
Whitewood, 16
Wild Cherry, 125
Wild Plum, 120
Wild Red Cherry, 122
Willow Family, 393
Willow Oak, 375
Winged Elm, 246
Witch Hazel, 157

YELLOW BIRCH, 310
Yellow Locust, 97
Yellow Oak, 342-357
Yellow Pine, 458
Yellow Poplar, 14
Yellow Willow, 405
Yellow-wood, 116
Yew Family, 499
Yggdrasil, 221

533

Books on Flowers, Animals
and Birds

CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS, Publishers

With 32 colored plates

ACCORDING TO SEASON

Talks about the Flowers in the order of
their appearance in the Woods and Fields

By FRANCES THEODORA PARSONS

Author of "How to Know the Wild Flowers," "How to Know the
Ferns," etc.

With 32 full-page illustrations from drawings in colors by
ELSIE LOUISE SHAW. i2mo, $1.75 net; postage
14 cents.

CONTENTS:

I. Introductory VII. " The Leafy Month of

II. Winter June"

III. Early Glimpses VIII. A Long Island Meadow

IV. Spring in the City IX. Midsummer

V. A Spring Holiday X. Early August

VI. May Notes XL Golden Rod and Aster

XII. Autumn

" The charm of this book is as pervading and enduring as
is the charm of nature." — N. Y. Times.

Mrs. Parsons's book is designed as a companion volume,
uniform in size, to her extremely popular books, " How to
Know the Wild Flowers" and "How to Know the Ferns."
Miss Shaw's colored ' plates add greatly to the beauty and
serviceableness of the volume, the plan of which will appeal
to all nature-lovers. All of the colored plates are different
from those in the "Wild Flowers." Several of these
chapters were published a number of years ago in a small
volume, under the same title and without illustrations.

By Mrs. William Starr Dana

HOW TO KNOW THE WILD
FLOWERS

By MRS. WILLIAM STARR DANA

With 48 Colored Plates and New Black and White
Drawings, Enlarged, Rewritten and Entirely Reset

A Guide to the Names, Haunts, and Habits of our Native
Wild Flowers. With 48 full-page colored plates by
ELSIE LOUISE SHAW, and no full-page illustrations
by MARION SATTERLEE. Sixtieth Thousand.
Crown 8vo, $2.00 net.

This new edition has been enlarged, revised, and entirely
reset, the illustrations have been remade, and it has in addition
48 full-page colored plates from drawings by Miss ELSIE LOUISE
SHAW, made especially for this edition. The Nation says :
" Every flower-lover who has spent weary hours puzzling over
a botanical key in the efforts to name unknown plants, will
welcome this satisfactory boclc, wnich stands ready to lead him
to the desired knowledge by a royal road. The book is well
fitted to the need of many who have no botanical knowledge
and yet are interested in wild flowers."

" I am delighted with it. . . . It is so exactly the kind of work needed
for outdoor folks who live in the country but know little of systematic botany,
that it is a wonder no one has written it before."— Hon. Theodore Roosevelt.

" It is not often that a book so suggestive of pleasure, pure and simple,
comes our way. So far as we recall books on flowers, it is the first that makes
country walks an intelligent joy for those who know nothing: of botany but
who have eyes to see and minds to question." — The New York Times.

" Every flower-lover who has spent weary hours puzzling over a botanical
key in the effort to name unknown plants, will welcome this satisfactory book,
which stands ready to lead him to the desired knowledge by a roval road."

-The Nation.

" It is exactly what has long been wanted by one who loves nature and
longs to be formally introduced— so to speak— that is, to know her treasures
by name, but who has not time to study botany. Your arrangement-by colors
is a great help to ready reference, and the illustrations are invaluable.''

— Olive Thome Miller.

"Mrs. Dana is a lover of outdoor life; her heart is in what she describes.
She has done well a piece of work which was well worth doing."— The Critic.

"An excellent book, and cannot fail to bring about its object. Very ex-
cellent illustrations, nearly all of which are original drawings from nature."

— Nature Notes, London.

By Frances Theodora Parsons (Mrs. Dana)
HOW TO KNOW THE FERNS

A Guide to the Names, Haunts, and Habits of our Native
Ferns. By FRANCES THEODORA PARSONS (Mrs.
Dana). With 144 full-page illustrations, and 6 full-
page illustrations from photographs. Crown 8vo,
$1.50 net.

" Since the publication, six years ago, of ' How to Know the Wild
Flowers,' I have received such convincing testimony of the eagerness of
nature-lovers of all ages and conditions to familiarize themselves with
the inhabitants of our woods and fields, and so many assurances of the
joy which such a familiarity affords, that I have prepared this companion
volume on ' How to Know the Ferns.' It has been my experience that the
world of delight which opens before us when we are admitted into some sort
of intimacy with our companions other than human, is enlarged with each
new society into which we win our way." — From the Author's Preface.

"Of the ferns, as the flowers, she writes as one who not only knows but
loves them. The charm of her fern-book is as irresistible and pervading as
is the charm of nature itself. This gifted and enthusiastic naturalist knows
the ferns literally ' like a book,' and her book makes the first lesson of the
novice in the lore of fern-life an easy and a delightful task."

— New York Mail and Express.

" This is a notably thorough little volume. The text is not voluminous,
and even with its many full-page illustrations the book is small ; but brevity,
as we are glad to see so many writers on nature learning, is the first of virtues
in this field. . . . The author of ' How to Know the Ferns' has mastered
her subject, and she treats of it with authority."— New York Tribune.

"The inspiration that entered into and made ' How to Know the Wild
Flowers ' so deservedly popular has not been lost in ' How to Know the
Ferns.' "—New York Times.

"After a delightful introductory chapter on 'Ferns as a Hobby,' the
author goes on to the explanation of terms, to the fertilization, development,
and fructification of ferns, the notable fern families, and the description of
individual ferns. The illustrations, by camera and pencil, are numerous and
exceedingly fine, completing a book that must prove a lasting delight to all
nature-lovers." — Boston Evening Transcript.

A SELECTION OF FIFTY PLATES

From "How to Know the Wild Flowers." Printed on
Special Paper suitable for Coloring by Hand. The
set, in a portfolio, $1.00 net.

By Ernest Thompson Seton

LIVES OF THE HUNTED

Author of "Wild Animals I Have Known," etc. Illus-
*rated with more than 200 drawings by the author.
Eightieth Thousand. $1.75 net ; postage 15 cents.

CONTENTS:
Krag, the Kootenay Ram.

A Street Troubadour, Being the Adventures of a Cock Sparrow.
Johnny Bear.

The Mother Teal and the Overland Route.
Chink, the Development of a Pup.
The Kangaroo Rat.

Tito, the Story of a Coyote that Learned How.
Why the Chickadee Goes Crazy Once a Year.

OPINIONS

" Surely no more entertaining book could be devised for children of all
ages."— Chicago Post.

" This story ('Krag') of the monarch of the Big Horns will strike the
average reader as among the best things that Mr. Seton-Thompson has done."

— N. Y. Tribune.

" The breadth of Mr. Seton-Thompson's sympathy is the finest charm of
his work."— Agnes Repplier, in Saturday Evening Post.

" Every admirer of Ernest Seton-Thompson's animal stories will hail with
pleasure his new volume, * Lives of the Hunted ' of the same nature as ' Wild
Animals I Have Known ' and shows the same sympathetic insight and
genuine literary touch. His stories are as truly literature as 'The Jungle
Books.' "—Chicago Record- Her aid.

"It is a delightful volume, full of a charm that will be felt all the more
keenly if the reader has any love for the wild life of nature and finds pleas-
ure in everything that brings one in touch with her varying moods. It is one
of those unusual books in whose pages the older as well as the younger reader
feels equally at home. It is strong, vivid, full of fascinating description, and
breathes in every page a deep and reverent love of nature and of the myriad
life that rests in the care of the angel of the wild things."— Brooklyn Eagle.

" The charming animal biographies which have made the name of Seton-
Thompson famous the world over are continued in this volume with all the
spirit and truthfulness of their predecessors and the admirable drawings with
which the stories are illustrated are reproduced here with the perfect copying
effected by the latest and best photo-print process.

—Philadelphia Evening Telegraph.

By Ernest Thompson Seton

WILD ANIMALS I HAVE KNOWN

Being the Personal Histories of Lobo the Wolf, Silverspot
the Crow, Raggylug the Rabbit, Bingo my Dog, the
Springfield Fox, The Pacing Mustang, Wully the Yaller
Dog, and Redruff the Partridge. With 200 illustra-
tions from drawings by the author. One Hundred
and Fifth Thousand. Square i2mo, $2.00.

CRITICAL NOTICES

" It should be put with Kipling and Hans Christian Andersen as a classic."

— The Athenceum.

"Mr. Thompson is now drawing the best mammals of any American artist.
. . . This is artistic fidelity to nature in high degree. . . . Nothing of
equal simplicity could be more effective than these little marginal oddities and
whimsies. The book is thoroughly good, both in purpose and execution."

—New York Evening Post.

" This book is unique in conception and illustration. . . . One of the
most valuable contributions to animal psychology and biography that has yet
appeared. Mr. Seton-Thompson is not only a naturalist and an animal artist of
very high attainments, but is master of a literary style that is at once graphic
and fascinating. . . . The author of ' Wild Animals I Have Known ' is a
keen woodsman, as well as an accomplished artist and writer, and has given
us a book that opens a new field to our vision."

— /. A. Allen in The American Naturalist.

" In its mechanical make-up the book is a great success. The illustrations
by the author are among the best of modern book-making."

—Boston Universalist Leader.

" Nothing apart from ' The Jungle Book ' has ever approached these tales
in interest, and the 200 illustrations add greatly to their charm."

—New York World.

" The originality and freshness of these stories is irresistible. ... In
everything he does, Mr. Thompson has a way peculiarly his own. . . .
Even if naked and unadorned, the facts he tells us would be very interesting;
but when we have the facts and the factors fairly dancing before us, clothed in
all the quaint quips and droll persiflage of an accomplished humorist and born
story-teller, they are— as I have said— irresistible."— Mr. William T. Horna-
day, Director N. Y. Zoological Park, in Recreation.

By Ernest Thompson Seton

THE TRAIL OF THE
SANDHILL STAG

Written and illustrated with 60 drawings. Square i-2mo,

^•SO-

NOTICES

"One of the most thoroughly attractive of the autumn books. . . . The
story is almost too perfect a whole to lend itself readily to quotation. . . •
A story to be read and re-read, finding fresh beauty at each reading, and a
book well worth the owning. . . . It is impossible to write too highly of the
illustrations. Pictures which really illustrate are all too rare, and the combi-
nation of author-artist is usually a fascinating one." — New York Times.

" It is difficult to determine which gives one the most pleasure in a book
by Mr. Ernest Seton-Thompson— the author-artist's narrative or the artist-
author's pictures. The two together certainly, as in the case of ' The Trail of
the Sandhill Stag,' unite to produce a singularly harmonious result. Mr.
Seton-Thompson can read the heart of the hunted animal as well as count the
pulse-beats of the huntsman himself, and in this tale is condensed the whole
tragic story of the chase. This double point of view is unique with this
writer."—" Droch " in Life.

" Bliss Carman, speaking of 4 The Trail of the Sandhill Stag,' says : ' I had
fancied that no one could touch ' The Jungle Book ' for a generation at least,
but Mr. Thompson has done it. We must give him place among the young
masters at once.' And we agree with Mr. Carman." — The Bookman.

" Nothing more beautiful in a dainty way has been brought out in Canada."

—Toronto World.

" It gives us again glimpses of the life of animals that are astonishing for
their delicacy of perception, and charming by the deftness of their literary
form."— New York Mail and Express.

"A breezy little narrative of outdoor life. . . . The author has cele-
brated the steadfast hunt and its interesting end with art and emotion"

—New York Tribune.

" Is a truly poetic bit of impressionistic prose." — Chicago Tribune.

OUR NATIVE TREES

AND HOW TO IDENTIFY THEM

By HARRIET L. KEELER. With 178 full-page plates from
photographs, and 162 text-drawings. Crown 8vo,
$2.00 net.

CRITICAL OPINIONS

C. S. SARGENT, Professor of Arboriculture in Harvard University :

" Of such popular books the latest and by far the most interesting is by
Miss Harriet L. Keeler. . . . Miss Keeler's descriptions are clear, com-
pact, and well arranged, and the technical matter is supplemented by much
interesting and reliable information concerning the economical uses, the
history and the origin of the trees which she describes. Outline drawings of
the flowers and of the fruits of many of the species, and beautifully repro-
duced full-page photographic plates of the leaves or of branches of the prin-
cipal trees, facilitate their determination."

" The value of a book of this character is not only enhanced by its
numerous illustrations, but positively dependent upon them ; those in the
present volume being of unusual interest; and the book ... is one
which should add new interest to the coming Summer for many to whom
nature is practically a sealed book, as well as heighten the pleasure of others
to whom she has long been dear." — N. Y. Times Saturday Review.

OUR COMMON BIRDS

AND HOW TO KNOW THEM

BY JOHN B. GRANT. With 64 full-page plates. Oblong
I2mo, $1.50 net.

PARTIAL LIST OF PLATES: HOOT OWL, BELTED KINGFISHER, WHIP-
POOR-WILL, KINGBIRD, PHCEBE, BLUE JAY, BOBOLINK, MEADOWLARK, ORCHARD
ORIOLE, PURPLE FINCH, RED CROSSBILL, SNOWFLAKE, SNOWBIRD, SONG SPAR-
ROW, CARDINAL, SUMMER REDBIRD, CEDARBIRD, MAGNOLIA WARBLER, BROWN
THRUSH, WINTER WREN, WOOD THRUSH, ROBIN, and 42 Others.

"The book is learned, but not too much so for common use, and, if
carefully studied, it will introduce the student into that interesting world of
bird life where a few favored mortals, such as the author, Bradford Torrey,
Olive Thorne Miller and a small handful more, have won their way and
brought back so much of delight. The book has more than sixty plates of
the commoner American birds, with descriptions, and a very enjoyable and
instructive introductory essay."— The Congregationalist.

" It gives plain, practical illustration regarding birds and how best to study
them in their haunts and homes in the woods and fields. The plates adorn
the pages and give value to the concise, clearly written text."

Chicago Inter-Ocean.

University of Toroiio
Library

Acme Library Card Pocket
LOWE-MARTIN CO. LIMITED

Internet Archive Audio

Featured

Top

Images

Featured

Top

Software

Featured

Top

Books

Featured

Top

Video

Featured

Top

Mobile Apps

Browser Extensions

Archive-It Subscription

Save Page Now

Full text of "Our native trees and how to identify them; a popular study of their habits and their peculiarities"

See other formats